Life, 1911-05-25 · page 17 of 42
Life — May 25, 1911 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**"The Indestructibility of Matter"** (top comics): This three-panel strip satirizes how students' knowledge expands through education—each panel shows a figure under a tree with a falling object labeled "Knowledge." A freshman gets hit by a small sphere; a sophomore by a larger one; a junior by an even bigger one. The final panel shows a senior completely buried. The joke: education makes problems progressively worse, or knowledge becomes an increasing burden. **"Better See It, Augustus!"** (center): Playwright Augustus Thomas announced he wouldn't attend King George V's coronation because he's a Democrat opposed to monarchy. The editorial response mocks his position as hypocritical—his real interest is theatrical spectacle, not politics. Shakespeare attended coronations for the drama, it argues, so shouldn't a playwright? This satirizes selective moral posturing by artists. **"Rural Pleasures"** and other items fill remaining space with period humor about country living, subway dialects, and domestic inconveniences—typical Light magazine content of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Rural Pleasures IRST CLUBMAN: I hear you and your family are going to your country place for the summer. I don't sce how you can endure to stay in the country, Secoxp Ciurman : Oh, there’s the tele- phone and plenty of people in town to talk to; a phonograph and all the news- papers and magazines and the latest novels; billiard and pool tables, any amount of company and alway theatrical people staying in the neighbor- hood to drop over and do their stunts; a well-stocked cellar, and enough of the neighbors that like a good game of poker to make an evening pass pleasantly; sev- eral trains a day and enly an hour to town by train or motor, and by taking an early morning train and staying all night at the club I manage very well. No, it’s not at all bad, really. some TYPOGRAPHICAL OLD ENGLISH AND EARLY ITALIC THE INDESTRUCTIDILITY OF MATTER Better See It, Augustus! Augustus Thomas, playwright, sailing for Europe, responds to’an inquiry if he will at. tend the coronation, “I am a Democrat and take no interest in the crowning of kings."— Providence Journal. D R, dear! But Augustus is inter- ested in the show business, isn't he?, He needn't be so umbrageous. There is a great deal in the coronation of George V. to interest a showman, and very little that need disturb a Democrat. The kind of kings they have in Eng- land now belong to the dramatic side of life. Morcover, the interesting forms of which they are a part probably help to stabilify the essential democracy of the British government. It is not always necessary that democracy should either go naked or wear a new suit,” Some- times it works along very well in hand- me-down garments. It likes, mightily, to change its clothes, anyhow, and a re- gard for old fashions that checks that tendency is not always to be deprecated. The coronation will be a good show, Augustus. A person of your profession ought not to miss it. Shakespeare al- ways looked in at coronations. AMA, can't we attach the electric fan to Uncle Jake?” “What for?” “ He is so close.” cold in your house yester- “Cold! Why we had to put quinine in the stove to keep it from shaking apart. Vis, Eades ye ge Sts \ Dictionary of the New York Subway Guard Dialect for the Benefit of Strangers 116th St. next. rosth St. next. 96th St. next. gand St. next. 66th St. next. «oth St. next. Times Square next. Nan Sax nax... Saven Sack nax.. ax Sax nax Faf Nan nax. Dam Scare nax. Gransnal nax Twonty At nax. Anth nax fth nax.... Fournth nax. Bradge nax. Bowl an ax. Grand Central next 28th St, next. 18th St. next. soth St. next. 14th St. next. Brooklyn Bridge next. Bowling Green next. comicbooks.com