Life, 1909-10-07 · page 19 of 44
Life — October 7, 1909 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This 1909 Life magazine page satirizes the competing claims of Arctic explorers Robert Peary and Frederick Cook, who both claimed to have reached the North Pole. The main narrative (left column) mockingly presents an expedition to Boston as if it were an unexplored Arctic wasteland—a jest at Boston's remoteness and insularity from the rest of America. The humor works through absurd exaggeration: explorers traveling via "Fifth Avenue stage," encountering "pole-cats" instead of actual polar animals, and treating Boston like an undiscovered continent. References to "Lawson's aurora borealis" and "Daughters of the Revolution" add period-specific social jabs. The "Six Months for Dr. Cook" section addresses the real controversy: Peary's public dismissal of Cook's North Pole achievement. Life suggests both men's competing narratives actually *boost* book sales, and proposes Cook undergo psychological examination by Professor Hugo Münsterberg to settle the matter. The bottom joke—"TEACHER: What animals did Peary find at the pole? BOY: Pole-cats"—is a pun on the word "pole."
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LIFE: I was delayed slightly, as I went by way of Florida, in order to lay in & stock of palm leaf fans to present to the natives Everything is dark and desolate around me. I see nothing but Law- son's aurora borealis in the distance. 1 cannot tell you the despair we have all {elt as we gazed toward Boston and realize that if we once get there we may never have the strength to leave. It is awful. Only the thought that the Daughters of the Revolution are back of me keeps me up. Everything is purple. Boston girls this morning on their way to the far north. They wore spectacles, but we hid behind a bean floe and they did not molest us. We are living on Parker House rolls, I am accom- panied only by a man from Connecti- Previous Attempts cut and a number of bull terriers. The New Yorkers who started with me turned back. I had concealed from them the fact that we were going to Boston, and when they discovered it they all jumped overboard. The old Fiith Avenue stage I am using is very good. It makes three miles a day on the average. Remember me to Peary, d——n him, and tell him I love him as a brother. Expect to take soundings on the Common to- morrow, Coox. I saw a few Will these intrepid explorers succeed? This is the breath- less question on every lip. Boston is now the only unknown spot on the carth, It is supposed to be solid ice, but overcharged, possibly, with in- tellectricity. However, no one actually knows. The impor- tance of the discovery cannot be underestimated. It will give the Geodetic Survey a new lease of life. It will enable sev- eral publishers to make fortunes. It will put both explorers hereafter beyond the need of making an honest living. It will stimulate true politeness everywhere. It will provide new subjects for all of our leading women’s clubs. The credit of the discovery must belong to America! (To be continued.) Six Months for Dr. Cook Cc P'N PEARY says he’s going to give Doc. Cook six months to disclose all he knows, and have the scientific gentlemen examine his disclosures, and then he is coing to sweep him off the map. Meanwhile Cap'n Peary is: going to discuss Dec. Cook’s achievements any further. here are good points about this plan. It permits both discoverers 10 yet out their books. So long as both stories stand unimpeached, cach helps the other. So long as the basis of Cap'n Peary’s conviction that Doc. Cook didn't get there continues to be unexpounded an appetizing haze of mys- Intrenched in the Desolation of the Back Bay tery hangs over both narratives, which ought to stimulate public interest and increase sales Doc. Cook has certainly worked hard in the field, and ought to have a turn at the bat allowance If there is anybody who don’t want to wait so long, the readiest expedient, as has been suggested, is to have Doc. Cook examined as to his psychological condition by Professor Hugo Munsterberg. Doc. Cook has taken two kinds of observa- tions, one set scientific instruments, whereof, we be- believe, somebody has a record somewhere which the scientific gentlemen are to examine; and another set made by his un aided senses whercof the record is on the tablets of his memory. It is this latter record that Dr. Mansterberg should look into. Meanwhile, there is a painful possibility that Arctic ex- ploration has been stimulated rather than allayed by the hyper- borean activities of the Cap'n and the Doc, and their result- ing discrepancies of conviction as to Doc. Cook's attain ment. Six months is a generous 'EACHER: What animals did Peary find at the pole? Boy: Pole-cats. comicbooks.com