Life, 1912-05-16 · page 24 of 52
Life — May 16, 1912 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page documents a caption-writing contest from Life magazine (circa 1910s). The winning cartoon shows a well-dressed woman dropping a coin to a blind beggar with a dog, titled **"Looking for His Master"** by Mabel E. Taylor. The satire works on multiple levels: the title's double meaning suggests the dog—not the blind man—is the real object of charity, implying the woman's pity is misdirected or performative. The page lists seventeen alternate captions submitted by contestants, many offering social commentary on charity itself. Captions like "Sing anthems for the deaf, / Dance for the blind" mock performative charitable gestures, while "Misfortune follows Folly wherever she goes" suggests moral judgment of the beggar's circumstances. The contest reflects early 20th-century attitudes toward poverty and disability, with humor often derived from the blind man's condition and questions about whether charity was genuinely helpful or merely self-serving performance by the wealthy.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE WINNING TITLE LOOKING FOR HIS MASTER HE winning title to the contest pic- ture reproduced on this page was sent in by MABEL E. TAYLOR, 1230 WASHINGTON Tyrone, Pa. AVENUE, The picture was first published in the New England Number of Lire, April 18, and again in the issue fol- lowing, April 23 The contest closed at noon on Sat- urday, May 4. There were in all 16,203 answers re- ceived From all of the answers, sixty-six were selected among the probabilities. Each of the five judges took a sepa- rate list of these sixty-six titles and independently selected five which in his or her judgment were the best. This resulted in seventeen titles. From these seventeen each judge chose the three he considered hest. The title finally selected was on four of these five lists. The titles finally considered by the judges were the seventeen that foilow: Theatrical Note: Not more than half the audience caught the spirit of the play. Luck at last the blind man greets, And spins a Sovereign at his fect. “Oh, beggar blind, if you were wise, Instead of alms, you'd ask for eyes. Visible and invisible means of sup- port. Her Sceptre’s down, Her kirtle up; The man is blind, But O you pup. In different garbs each sings, Or begs, or toils for what it brings. trips, or y—to dance in the morning light; ief—to dwell in the gloom of night. “He whom Nature thus bereaves, Is ever Fancy’s favorite child,” Some people when to charity in- clined, Sing anthems for the deaf, Dance for the blind. “ Misfortune follows Folly wherever she goes.” Pity the blind? Indeed, we may, And envy this lucky dog his day. An eye opener. You've all guessed wrong, she’s just his daughter, Trying to earn her dad a quarter. Thank goodness, the artist knew when to draw the blind, “Tf she gives no alms to me, What care I how fair she be.” “Looking for his Master.” “Oh! for a Bramble Bush!” A Helping Hand Post: Do you think the day will come when there will be no coal left on earth? Parker: Well, it won't cook’s fault if it doesn’t. be our “HE WAS WHISKED ABOUT TOWN IN AN AUTOMOBILE” comicbooks.com