Life, 1909-08-26 · page 12 of 28
Life — August 26, 1909 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main cartoon depicts a dog pulling a heavily-laden barrel or container up a steep street toward a city building—the caption asks "WHICH IS MAD?" This appears to be visual satire about the absurdity of summer burdens or preparations. The text sections offer humorous "advice" about seaside travel and flirting, written in mock-serious verse. Below, there's commentary on Dr. Samuel Johnson's approaching bicentennial (noted for September), praising his satirical work while admitting his reputation as a "rule and pompous" bore. The joke centers on Johnson being simultaneously celebrated as a great literary figure yet acknowledged as insufferably tedious—a contradiction the author finds amusing rather than damning. The small illustration of "An Old Bore" with a clock shows the stereotype humorously.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
268 Summer Advice Ww" ERB to seashore or mountain the time comes to flit, Be sure to take with you your flirting outfit; And, for fear lest from winter's disuse it has suffere Be careful each tool is within, and well buffered. It might also be To buy “ Authorized 1 There are implements many, but spa In the room, which on moving, the hi well—should one be inexpert— ‘ceded to Flirt.” ¢ you will find rt leaves behind ; For, of course, that should first be aired, wrapped, and safe stored In.the cupboard where winter possessions you hoard In summer a heart's a superfluous thing Like furs, or like woolens, that prickle and sting; But when cold weather comes you'll be more than content That your heart is not moth-eaten, pitched out, or lent “*(QOME down and spend the week-end with mg, old man. butler.” “Doesn't he object to a lot of company “Not if it’s well selected.’’ hanks. Then I think I can’t come.”” ELUSIONS are like girls; we don't care to hug them unless they are attractive NOW THAT’S FUNNY, I'VE ONLY BEEN HERE AT THE SEASHORE TWO HOURS AND I'VE GAINED FORTY POUNDS.”” We have a grand new afford to wien An Old Bore HE two hundredth anniversary of Dr. Samuel Johnson will be celebrated in September, and trusting that we may be pardoned for anything which tends to disturb the serenity of our literary tra- ditions, we venture, in all due humility, to assert that the said Dr. Johnson's reputation is greater than it really ought to be. He was undoubtedly the most ar- rogant and self-assertive old bore in the whole range of literature, and inasmuch as we are now discoursing about English literature, as distinguished from all oth er, this is no small thing to say of any man. He was not only rude and pomp- ous, but he had wretched taste, was an insufferable glutton, and never wrote anything, so far as we have been able to discover, that was worth re-reading. Boswell’s work about him, when rightly viewed, should’ be—next to Don Quixote —regarded as the greatest satire ever 1s MAD? penned. Every disgusting trait that the Anglo-Saxon temperament is guilty of Dr. Johnson had, and in praising them all to the skies Boswell showed himself a@ supreme artist in satire, capable only of being fully appreciated by those few minds who know to what extent the hypocrisies of literature can be carried. a a Heavenward INKS (in 1910): What kind of a funeral did Howard have? Jixxs: A mile of aeroplanes. VERY one of God's creatures is here for a useful purpose. Now what do we learn from the mosquito, Tom?” asked a teacher trying to evolve the word patience. “We learn from the mosquito,” an- swered Tom, “how easy it is to get stung.” comicbooks.com