Life — May 7, 1908 — page 3: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Page Analysis This page is **primarily advertising** with one small cartoon. The cartoon (lower left) shows an office scene with the caption: "HOW QUIET THE OFFICE BOY IS!" / "YES—I JUST RAISED HIS SALARY. HE THINKS IT'S A DREAM AND IS AFRAID HE'LL WAKE UP." **The joke**: Satirizes a boss's miserly nature—he's so stingy that when he gives a modest raise, the office boy is shocked into stunned silence, fearing it's too good to be true. The humor relies on the period expectation that employers paid minimal wages and workers were perpetually anxious about their precarious economic position. The surrounding ads (White Rose soap, Brooks Brothers clothing, Viyella flannel) represent typical early-1900s consumer goods marketed in *Life* magazine.