Life, 1908-12-24 · page 5 of 20
Life — December 24, 1908 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main cartoon depicts a scene at what appears to be a beach or seaside, with a man in formal dress examining something on the ground using a magnifying glass, while other figures watch. The caption reads: "Very Short-Sighted Old Gentleman: 'TUT TUT! I OUGHT NEVER TO COME OUT WITHOUT MY GLASSES'" **The Satire:** The joke plays on the gentleman's poor eyesight—he's so nearsighted that he requires glasses to see properly, yet he's examining something extremely close to the ground, suggesting his vision problems are severe enough to be comical. The page also includes poems ("Upon My Soul" and "Gone Out!") and an article on "College Boys' English" critiquing American youth's speech patterns. The cartoon's humor relies on visual irony about human limitations rather than specific political commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Upon My Soul! (News Item: Fournier d’Albe, Secre- tary of the Dublin Society for Psychical Research, states thot the human soul may soon be seen and weighed.) HE human soul at last is found, All doubts and fears may scatter, It’s weight is told by ounce and pound, Like ordinary matter. Oh, what a boon doth here arise! ‘Twill save such loads of worry O’er how our souls have shrunk in size Through worldly care and hurry. The preacher now may surely know, By weighing every sinner, What souls upon his preaching grow, And what poor souls get thinner. And corporate directors, too, In seeking men to guide them, May weigh, and choose no chairmen who Have Too much soul inside them. By training down with proper care, Aspiring politicians Need have no fear their souls will e’er Outweigh their high ambitions. Oh, what a world ‘twill be, indeed, When every man may carry Just soul enough to meet his need And save him from Old Harry. In every pound of flesh must be So many grains soul-leaven, And these proportions guarantec A passport into Heaven. So, Mortals, watch your spirits’ weigh, And keep the balance level ‘Twixt soul and flesh, or else some day You may go to the Devil. James MacMillen Johnston, Gone Out! HE poor little black and tan dogs! How they have faded into obscur- ity, unhonored and unsung. At onetime Very Short-Sighted Old Gentleman: “tut tTuT! 1 OUGHT NEVER TO COME OUT they were largely the fashion and great wrrmour av -LASsEa"? ladies fondled them and were proud in their possession. Now they have been superseded by other varieties. The — the dogs there be, there is none more in- guage chiefly by ear at home, but if his other day we patted one of these pathetic _telligent than the black and tan. mind expands and the scope of his creatures on the head and he returned ; thoughts extends, his vocabulary at least our caress with a deprecating wag of his College Boys’ English must expand also. tail, as much as to say that we didn't OMPLAINT is made that the aver- Lincoln learned language because, ap- quite know what we were doing, but he age American college boy speaks parently, he had thoughts that insisted thanked us all the same. And yet of all bad English, and speaks it badly. upon being expressed. Seeing how a But isn’t his English thoughts were expressed in Shakespeare as good as the thoughts and the Bible, he learned the trick from he clothes in it? Isn't — the best schools there a relation be- tween what he has to HAT kind of people are they?” express and his lan- “Well, when they are not guage? playing bridge, they are working a pho- CHRISTMAS MUSIC A boy gets his lan- — nograph.’* comicbooks.com