Life, 1908-02-20 · page 5 of 24
Life — February 20, 1908 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The page's header image, captioned "IF WASHINGTON CROSSED THE DELAWARE TO-DAY," depicts a modern recreation of Emanuel Leutze's famous 1851 painting of George Washington's Revolutionary War crossing. However, this version shows the boat crowded with what appear to be modern figures and industrial elements, satirizing contemporary American life. The three accompanying text sections—"The Household," "Nothing happens that the household doesn't get its share of," and "A Nasty Thought"—critique early 20th-century American materialism and economic anxiety. They mock how households are affected by market fluctuations, epidemics, and wars, suggesting ordinary Americans feel powerless against larger forces. The satire implies that Washington's heroic sacrifice contrasts sharply with modern Americans' preoccupation with money and self-interest.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
IP WASHINGTON CROSSED THE DELAWARE TO-DAY The Household HAT is a household? A household is a place where babies and dust are raised, bills are contracted, coal is burned, food is eaten and occasionally auctions are held. . As a rule, a household consists of two heads and one foot. One head is the cook, the other the man’s wife. Every day every household is visited by all the Trusts. At regular intervals it is visited by sick- ness, health, taxes and clergymen. Nothing happens that the household doesn’t get its share of. It’s a partner in epidemics, panics, elections, wars, tidal waves, An earth- quake on the Pacific coast will be re- flected in every household in New York. The stock market quotations are writ- ten on the walls and ceiling and floors of every household. Nothing succeeds (or fails) like a household. A Nasty Thought ORE and more of the American population is being riveted every day to the conviction that an attainable amount of money will not provide the in- dispensables of subsistence. The riveting is being done by daily and hourly strokes of demonstration that money is harder come by than it was, and that the indis- pensables have not accommodated them- selves to its reluctance. E KEEPS his friends who refuses to amend them. i comicbooks.com