Life, 1908-09-17 · page 7 of 24
Life — September 17, 1908 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two cartoon sections satirizing social hypocrisy and college education. The top cartoon "All In the Same Boat" shows three vignettes depicting weather-related complaints: a woman blaming a captain for bad weather, a man similarly complaining, and another person claiming seasickness. The joke critiques people from different social classes all suffering equally—they're "in the same boat" despite their pretensions. Below, an article by Mr. John Corbin reviews "The Best College for the Boy," critiquing Harvard's value. The text argues colleges don't adequately prepare men for "the world" (defined as "girls, gambling, mixed drinks and athletics"). The bottom illustration shows various animals in chaotic interaction, captioned "HM! MISTAKES WILL HAPPEN IN THE BEST REGULATED FAMILIES"—suggesting that disorder is inevitable even in supposedly well-ordered institutions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
oj bleh Bes Se All In the Same A} ~ ae SUCH A HUMORIST “Then you don’t like this weather I ordered for you?” Says Snorte to a girl who's complaining. “T'll speak to the Captain and have it calmed down!” And they say Snorte is so entertaining! POOH, POOH, TUT, TUT, AND THEN SOME! “Seasick? O, no, not at all! You say I look greenish and yellow! It's neuralgia—I got it last Fall— Why, I never get seasick, old fellow!" Our Colleges R. JOHN CORBIN has recently published a book entitled “The Best College for the Boy.” Being a Harvard man, Mr. Corbin naturally doesn’t mention Yale any more than necessary, although we are bound to say that he makes out a fair case against some of the Harvard weaknesses. But, although Mr. Corbin has written an admirable book, and has shown us quite intelligently the insides of our col- leges, he has not succeeded in showing us the futility of the college for pur- poses of education. There is in this country a great deal of college worship. A good book might be written about the things one doesn’t acquire at college. What college does for a boy is to give him a fair knowledge of what is termed “the world,’ said world consisting of girls, gambling, mixed drinks and ath- letics.. To this may be added fraternity memberships and a fairly wide acquaint- ance among many desirable and some undesirable citizens. To this may also be added a general smattering of the things with which a cultivated person is on intimate terms. The average man, a pretty sordid and uninteresting creature as a rule, absorbed in prices current, is lifted up by his college educa- tion to a slightly higher level throughout his entire life. This is the value of a college. BORIS On the other hand, college is unneces- sary to creative genius. It is likely to be hampered by intellectual conventionality. Sidney Smith, once asked why a certain college was called a place of learning, replied that although a great many had been there to get learning, no one had ever taken learning away; hence, it was appropriately named. Popa Crow: uM! MISTAKES WILL HAPPEN IN THE BEST REGULATED FAMILIES. comicbooks.com