Life, 1910-12-08 · page 9 of 44
Life — December 8, 1910 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes modern urban life in early 20th-century New York through poet Berton Braley's poem titled "LIFE." The text catalogs relentless novelty—new clothes, restaurants, crimes, dances, and fads—capturing rapid social change. The illustration below depicts the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve surrounded by modern intrusions: a "EDEN" sign, automobiles, and contemporary figures. Eve's caption—"Oh, Adam! Isn't it beautiful! And just think, it's all been here only a week!"—is the joke's punchline. The satire contrasts paradise with modernity's chaos. Even in Eden, humanity cannot escape constant commercialization and manufactured "newness." The page mocks how Americans relentlessly pursue novelty while losing touch with simplicity, suggesting that modern life's relentless pace corrupts even paradise itself.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
<<] ——— Modern EW clothes, new hats, new streets, new flats, New restaurants and drinking places; New gems and gauds, new shams and frauds, New poor, new rich, new sights, new faces, New truths, new lies, new laughs, new cries, New shows, new fads, new lofty prices, New gilded baits, new loves, new hates, New fashions, virtues, and new vices. New crimes, new jails, new bargain sales, New spendthrifts, misers, thieves and gieaners, New foreign earls, new pretty girls, New servants and pneumatic cleaners, New failures? Yes, and new success, New news of life that ever varies, New cheap cigars, new Broadway stars, New suburbs and new cemeteries. New pleasures, pains, new water mains, New slang, new books, new songs, new dances, New clubs, new signs, new foods, new wines, New “snug retreats"—and new ad- vances, New “swell” hotels, new “tubes” and New homes just gladdened by the stork, New sport, new noise, new wocs, new joys, New names, new fames, new games NEW YORK! Berton Braley. Ks BN Hy \ mit \] HLH iN! i \\\ 11] HI i 100 iy Wane | | N HP en Walk my: Wie ban! NALA HL tl) aH | i! NG | t] Mt v4 ii \\ 7 | Nei Eve: om, pam! 1SN’r 1t beautTiFUL! AND, JUST THINK, 17'S ALL DEEN WERE ONLY A WEEK! Hal Wit MAE A ij Nit aan a At AN CNW rr comicbooks.com