Life, 1911-01-05 · page 59 of 104
Life — January 5, 1911 — page 59: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct pieces: **Upper section ("Clothes"):** A philosophical dialogue between a Young Man and an Elder Man (labeled "Sage") about the proper balance between appearance and inner character. The Elder recounts moving from prioritizing external dress, to rejecting it entirely as superficial, to finally achieving a middle ground—maintaining neat appearance while recognizing its ultimate unimportance. The message reflects early 20th-century concerns about vanity versus substance. **Lower section ("The Champion Bowler"):** A humorous cartoon showing what appears to be criminals fleeing in a car, pursued by police gunfire. The caption suggests they're being chased by buckshot pellets from a constable's shotgun. The crude dialogue ("plies," likely "flies" or pursuers) and urgent tone create slapstick comedy around lawbreakers evading capture—typical of Life magazine's satirical humor of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Clothes said the Young Man, “I am surprised, almost grieved, to find that one who has such a reputation for Wisdom as you, should pay so much attention to his clothes. You are as immaculate and as nobby as a young lover.” “And why not?” asked the Elder Man. Why not, indeed?” rejoined the Young Man. “I am afraid I cannot ex- plain. Many people have told me it is foolish to pay so much attention to clothes. That's all I know.” “It is a common error,” spoke the THE CHAMPION BOWLER Sage, “but it is nevertheless an error, and one which once possessed me. When I was young as you are, I was attracted by the external things only and of these external things clothes were by far the most important. When I was a little older I underwent a reaction. I had a revulsion of feeling. Somehow I gained the idea that clothes were an absurdity in toto, I thought that the inner spirit- ual man was everything. According as my thoughts became introspective, I neg- lected my external appearance and went about unkempt and slovenly.” “The two extremes,” suggested the Young Man discerningly. “Yes, the two extremes, but with neither alone was I happy. Without clothes I found I could not go among my fellows in comfort and thus the social side of me became atrophied. Without knowledge and an inward apprecia- tion of the important fundamentals of life, I could not be happy in my own compan: “Wherefore,” observed the Young Man, “you struck a happy medium by compromising on both.” “Yes. Now I pay strict attention to my external appearance while inwardly I laugh at the folly of the world which makes it necessary.” “pies! LOOK AT THOSE PLIES FOLLERIN’ US. IT’S THAT CHARGE OF BUCKSHOT THAT YAP CONSTABLE FIRED AT US, AN’ WE GOTTA HUSTLE OR IT'LL GET US.” THEY SURE CAN Go some.” comicbooks.com