Life, 1911-01-19 · page 9 of 44
Life — January 19, 1911 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three separate satirical pieces rather than a single cartoon: 1. **"Please Give a Building Site to the Academy of Design"** criticizes wealthy New York gentlemen for refusing to donate land for an arts institution, despite their ability to do so. The satire suggests they're stingy despite their means. 2. **"Contrast"** contrasts two scenarios: a pleasant poor man versus an unhappy wealthy man whose living costs exceed his wages, forcing him to appeal to his congressman—satirizing how even the rich struggle financially. 3. **"Every Little Bit Helps"** and **"Household Hint"** are brief humorous anecdotes about prayer and domestic servants. The central image depicts a working-class domestic interior, illustrating the period's social class concerns that pervade these satirical pieces.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“on, JOHN, HOW I WISH THERE WERE NO SUCH THINGS AS SERVANTS.’ “WELL, MY DEAR, WE HAVE NO DIRECT EVIDENCE THAT THERE ARE.” Please Give a Building Site to the Academy of Design HE gentlemen who conduct the des- tinies of the Academy of Design have $800,000 to spend on a new build- ing, and think they can get nearly as much more, They have kindly offered to spend the whole—a million and a half— on a beautiful building suitable for their exhibitions, to be put up in the western end of Bryant Park. This is on some accounts a better offer than their last, which was to bestow their silding in Central Park at East Sixty- fourth Street. But they must be joking. They never can, or should, get a yard of park land in New York for their building. Possibly they do not yet ap- Preciate the strength of the sentiment in this town against any invasion of the arks for building sites, nor realize ow many citizens lie awake at night P he scheming to get the Post-Office out of that angle where Park Row Broadway. Please, somebody give the Academy of Design an acre of nice land, on or near Fifth Avenue, between Fortieth Street and Sixty-first! meets Contrast J" is easy enough to be pleasant When life flows along like a song, But the man worth while is the man who can smile, When he finds that the cost of living is going up faster than his wages, and he goes to his Congressman and asks him if something can't be done about it, and the Congressman tells him it isn’t an issue Every Little Bit Helps “TS there anyone present who wishes the prayers of the congregation for a relative or frienc?” asks the minister. “T do,” says he angular lady who arises from the car pew. “I want the congregation t: pray for my husband.” “Why, sister Abigail!” replies the minister. “You have no husband as yet.” “Yes, but I want you all to pitch in an’ pray for one for me!” Household Hint ba ‘OUR meringues,” says the mistress, “are so delightfully frothy and light. How in the world do you get them that way?” “It's the new butler, mum,” explains the cook. “He used to be a barber, nium.” comicbooks.com