Life, 1911-06-15 · page 15 of 44
Life — June 15, 1911 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical allegorical dialogue between "Everybody"—an everyman figure representing modern American society—and "Sara the Divine," a mysterious woman with a halo (likely representing either spirituality, idealism, or salvation). The cartoon critiques the spiritual emptiness of early 20th-century American life. Everybody confesses to pursuing happiness through conventional means: wealth, romance, sensory pleasures (wine, women, song), and hedonism—yet remains perpetually unfulfilled. His confessions reveal disillusionment: failed love, infidelity, bitterness, and cynicism masquerading as worldly sophistication. "Sara" questions him systematically about work, health, ideals, and morality, exposing how he's abandoned genuine meaning for shallow pursuits and materialistic comfort. The satire suggests that modern Americans mistake pleasure-seeking and conspicuous consumption for authentic happiness, while dismissing spirituality or genuine virtue as naive "angel talk." The title reference to Sir Galahad (a pure knight) underscores the ironic gap between noble ideals and modern moral degradation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
= Gif Cushing — SIR GALAHAD FINDS THE MOLY GIRL, Everybody An Allegory Everybody is discovered in the dark peering in nooks and corners, with a lighted candle, A strange woman with an aura of light enters and watches him from one side, smiling. She speaks. “VY7HAT do you seek?” “Happiness. It is the one thing that eludes me. Teach me to find it.” “ How long have you looked for it?” “All my life. I spent my youth in chasing it. I danced and played polo. I drove a four-in-hand. I sailed a yacht in a gale. Sometimes I imagined I had it, but—hang it!—it flashed off like a butterfly in the sunshine.” “But you kept on bravel “Not so bravely. I grew bitter. I HISTORIC AFFINITIES dissipated furiously. Wine, woman and song! Then I chucked the bunch!” “But you still——” “T still sing a little. Yes.” “Have you never loved?” “Many times.” “ But truly—passionately?” “ Each time worse than the last. married.” “ But you are alone?” “She ran away with my best friend.” “That was a blow.” “To lose my friend—yes. bull terrier now.” “You have wealth?” “ So—so.” “ Good health?" “Fair. I am on a diet.” “You have ideals?" “They are worn quite shabby.” Then I keep a “SARA THE DIVINE” “You have work?” “I go through certain motions that produce an income.” “You are successful?” “T am not happy, I tell you. “ Poor thing!” “Now, don’t give me any angel talk, please, about doing good to others or forgetting self or any of that rot. I am as noble as the next one.” “And as bad?" “I'm out for joy—the sort of thing that makes the college boys shout and smash windows.” “And marry chorus girls?” “Tam game for anything, I tell you. Start something !” Ha, ha, ha!” “Say, who are you anyhow? I didn’t begin this acquaintance, remember. You comicbooks.com