Life, 1908-03-05 · page 25 of 36
Life — March 5, 1908 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The cartoon at top satirizes society ladies' casual dismissal of military careers. One woman notes the army offers young men officer prospects worth "nearly a thousand dollars a year"—presented as substantial advancement. The second lady replies such danger is unlikely: by the time soldiers reach command rank, doctors will have taken their places, implying military men die young or face displacement by medical professionals. Below, "Two Claims" by Chesterton Todd begins a story about a miner's dual pursuits: striking a valuable mining claim and winning a wealthy man's daughter. The narrative (continuing next page) juxtaposes material and romantic ambition—both requiring persistence despite others' ridicule. The setup reflects early 20th-century American themes of self-made success and courtship as economic achievement.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
S-CON ACER, 6S First Lady: WHAT A CARFER THE ARMY OPENS FOR THOSE YOUNG MEN. SOME DAY THEY MAY BE OFFICERS, WITH NEARLY A THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR. Second Lady: NO DANGER OF THAT! WHEN THEY GET OLD ENOUGIT TO TAKE COMMAND, THEIR PLACES WILL BE OCCUPIED Two Claims By Chesterton Todd BY DOCTORS. ] SAID to myself, when she was only fifteen years old and I was working on her pa’s claim in Leadville, that she was the only girl for me. You know her pa, Hiram Digger; why, he was black with money as far back as I can go, only he never changed much. He was always the same. I remember he said to me once, just after I had come to work for him, “Jake,” he says, “never take anybody's advice but your own. You only get a fraction of other folks’ judg- ment,” he says. ‘Your own may go back on you, but the chances are it will do you better service than anybody else’s.”” I never forgot that. And when I left him and went down to Arizona and struck my claim I jest hung on, quarryin’ and quarryin’, and the boys givin’ me the grand laugh. ‘It’s a dead one,” they all said. But I had hopes of that claim, and I stuck at it day and night, through ground yieldin’ only eight dollars to the ton right down to the richest vein in the mountain. I paid no heed to any of ’em, rememberin’ old man Digger’s advice, which was not to take any, and when I sold out for a million and a half—well, I rather had the laugh on the rest of the boys. You see, I was really workin’ for a larger claim than that. I was workin’ for a claim that had blue eyes in it and yellow, fluffy hair an’ red checks, and all the fixin’s to the loveliest girl I knew. But you can gamble that I warn’t goin’ to ask for her until I had earned her in cash. It took me five years to do it—wadin’ in rushin’ water up to my waist, porin’ over samples, petered out and miserable, with every one against me—professors of minin’ givin’ me the grand laugh, and me hangin’ on like grim death. But I struck it at last, and, fixin’ myself up at the best tailor’s with an A one outfit, I started back to Denver, where the Diggers held forth. This story continucd on page 256 comicbooks.com