Life, 1906-11-15 · page 11 of 36
Life — November 15, 1906 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two satirical pieces from *Life* magazine: **"Overzealous Simplifiers"** critiques spelling reform advocates who pressured President Roosevelt's administration to adopt simplified spellings. The article mocks Rossiter Johnson and others who made "a great many citizens mad" by attempting to reform American orthography through government policy. The satire suggests these reformers overstepped by trying to impose changes on schools and the public. **"No Wonder He Found It"** is a brief humorous anecdote about Frank Bookwalter, who returned home to Springfield, Ohio after 65 years and discovered a lost dime from childhood. The joke's punch line suggests that if the dime had belonged to a wealthy person like Rockefeller, he would have found a dollar instead—satirizing wealth disparities and implying the poor remain poor. The illustration shows a domestic scene but relates primarily to the first article's discussion of language authority.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
563 Overzealous Simplifiers S NOT the zeal of the simplified spellers outrunning their discretion? When they converted President Roose- velt and got the executive machinery of our Government to work in the interest of their improved orthogra- phy, they made a great many citizens mad, It was justly considered an impertinence for the Presi- dent to meddle officially with American gelling. In attempting to have simplified spelling taught in the public schools of New York the simplifiers have made more folks mad, and especially Mr. Rossiter Johnson, who has pulled hair in meeting with Pro- fessor Brander Matthews and has made a spirited defense of the American language as it is actually spelled and of the right of school children to be taught it. Simplified spelling has some good points, but it can hardly be introduced with a club, We may be per- suaded to accept it, but if we are to be compelled, Mr. Carnegie will have to increase his subsidy. No Wonder He Found It TH papers relate it as a remark- able fact that Frank Book- walter, of Springfield, Ohio, returned to his childhood’s home after an absence of sixty-five years and found a dime that he had lost in a crack in the front steps when he was five years old There is nothing remarkable in this “AND SO YOU LIKE TO SEE ME COME MUCH BETTER THAN THE OTHER YOUNG MEN THAT CALL ON story. Mr. Bookwalter is described as a ‘Your ststre?” millionaire. After sixty-five years’ experi- “YESSIR, YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE THAT DOFSN'T HANG HIS HANDKERCHIER OVER THE KEYHOLE." ence in picking up money, it would have ye . . been a wonder if he had not found his boy- All in Vain Setting Her Right hood’s dime, especially as he knew where RIGGS: Jones is running on the HOPPER: Where is the corset de- it wa Independent ticket, isn’t he? partment ? If the lost dime had been Mr. Rocke- Gr Yes—he had to make pledges FLooRWALKER : Straight back. feller’s, he would have found a dollar to both sides. “No, straight front.” Mr. Rockefeller’s money breeds. comicbooks.com