Life, 1912-09-26 · page 28 of 48
Life — September 26, 1912 — page 28: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains satirical commentary on human maturation and potential. The main article humorously argues that whether men mature early or late depends less on inherent ability than on their physical constitution—specifically, their stomachs. It references historical and contemporary figures: Methuselah (biblical longevity), William Pitt (precocious British Prime Minister), Theodore Roosevelt, Mayor Gaynor, and President Taft—using them as examples of how circumstance and physiology shape achievement. The cartoons illustrate this theme: "The Original Fish Story" depicts adults telling tall tales, while "The Child of Whose Behavior You've Just Been Boasting" shows an exasperated mother with a misbehaving child, satirizing parental self-deception. A song and joke about appendicitis surgery complete the page. The satire's core message: stop crediting genius alone; consider digestive health.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1864 *-LIFE- Men, Brains, Stomachs, and Other Things Do men mature later than formerly? —Springfield Republican. a Re depends upon the man. Methuselah, who lived some time ago, did not do his best work until he was 850 or 900. William Pitt, who lived in comparatively re- cent times, was Prime Minister of England at twenty-three, and, as some one has remarked, never did anything else. But, after all, does it depend altogether upon the man? Is it not, at least somewhat, environment, ancestry, equip- ment and stomach? A man with a superior stomach and an average brain will be “going strong” at eighty, while a man with a superior brain and a fitful stomach may have to do his best work before thirty, or do nothing. Carlyle had a fitful stomach and a corduroy style, from neither of which he ever reco} d. Cato learned Greek at eighty. Henry James is about three score and ten and hasn't yet learned English. Theodore Roosevelt was an expert politician at thirty, and now look at him! What a man is at a given period, depends upon time and circumstances. Sometimes, however, men do not change; they keep steadily on, always the same, unmoved by fate. For example, one well-known citizen was an ass when he was born. Mayor Gaynor will never be a good politician if he lives to be a thousand, but he was born interesting. Mr. Taft wasn’t born interesting, but he might make a good _ Chanson Regret? ECAUSE the kiss Was but a kiss, An instant’s bl: That left me this— Eyes wet? Forget? Because pale pain Is ever fain To follow plain In rapture’s train, I fret? Not yet. While the old thrill Can touch me still No good or ill Can change my will, Cosette. Leolyn Louise Everett. OKUS: I tell you, an operation for appendicitis is no joke. Pokus: No, but if it were, it would be a side-splitting one. THE CHILD OF WHOSE BEHAVIOR YOU'VE JUST BEEN BOASTING (sees tee THE ORIGINAL FISH STORY President if he had as much time as Methuselah. We do not assert this positively. We hazard only a modest guess. In fact, any opinion as to whether any given man may mature early or late is a guess. Napoleon lived to 1815 in order to show the world what a poor soldier Wellington was. Until science reveals some method of grafting the stomach of a John L. Sullivan upon a Paul Verlaine, we shall have to get along the best we can with the material we have. And acknowiedge, meanwhile, that we know mighty little about it. T. 1. M. 44K comicbookeam