Life, 1910-11-03 · page 22 of 72
Life — November 3, 1910 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a darkly satirical poem by Arthur Guiterman paired with ink illustrations mocking American mythology about the Pilgrims and Thanksgiving. The satire works on multiple levels: **The primary joke**: The poem's opening line—"They fell upon their knees, and then / Upon the Aborigines"—uses a pun to suggest the Pilgrims' true treatment of Native Americans was violent conquest, not peaceful coexistence. The phrase "native viands" (native food) becomes a grim double meaning. **Secondary satire**: The poem mocks modern Americans ("All patriotic Yankee folk") for obsessively "pursuing the dough" (money), equating contemporary greed with the Pilgrims' supposed piety. **The illustrations** show three figures in period dress: one seated man, one standing woman offering food, and one man raising his arms in apparent distress—likely depicting the chaotic reality behind the sanitized Thanksgiving narrative. The cartoon challenges the sanitized historical narrative Americans were taught, suggesting hypocrisy in how the nation portrayed its founding.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE CAME The Pilgrims’ Thanksgiving Feast HE Pilgrims landed, worthy men, And some through groves of pine and oak And, saved from wreck on raging seas, Pursued the doe; and even so They fell upon their knees, and then All patriotic Yankee folk Upon the Aborigines. Unceasingly pursue the dough. In thankfulness they planned a feast They bearded bruin in his lair, On all the country might afford. Or stalked the stag in forests drear. (The grace consumed an hour at least, Alas! their festal dish was bear, Whence rose the phrase, “ The festive bored.’") Or venison—though that was deer. Still, native viands pleased them most— The native maize, for that was new; They ate the native boiled and roast And even ate the native stew! Arthur Guiterman, comicbooks.com