Life, 1914-02-19 · page 33 of 40
Life — February 19, 1914 — page 33: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a domestic comedy sketch satirizing middle-class parents who neglect their son's education while blaming the school system. **The Setup:** A teenage boy seeks a quiet study space; his parents are too busy (father reading comics, mother organizing social events) to help. When summoned to a parents' meeting at school, both refuse to attend—the father claims no time, the mother agrees. **The Satire's Point:** The parents criticize the school for overloading students, yet take no responsibility themselves. When the boy mentions his teacher said he'd amount to something "if it was not for my parents," they're shocked—but the irony is obvious to readers: the parents' indifference is exactly the problem they complained about. **Social Context:** This reflects early 20th-century anxieties about education, parental involvement, and the new subject "Eugenics" (mentioned as recently added to curriculum—a sign of the era's pseudoscience). The advertisement above promotes quality stationery as "the stationery of a gentleman"—contrasting refined, literate values with the parents' dismissive attitude toward learning.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
- “Oe have @ sample packet 4lampshire Raper Co South Hadley Falls Macs ° which we would like to mail you Ask us for it. d d " Che Stationer fa Gentleman Any Evening Scene—Upper hall in the average suburban home. Time—Early — evenii (Papa is smoking a briar-root pipe and pouring over a comic series in the evening paper. Mamma is busy at a desk in the corner writing out an invitation list. A boy about thirteen years old suddenly enters, book and papers in his hand.) Boy: Mamma. Mamata (looking up crossly) : Well? Boy: You promised me a desk some- where all to myself where I could study. Mamaa: Well, I'll see about it. Don't bother me now. Para (looking up from the third picture of the series): Why don't you do your studying in school? The telephone rings. Mamma an- swers it. She holds the receiver and looks at Papa. Mamma: We forgot about that parents’ meeting. Para: Parents’ meeting! What the devil is that? > the | Mamma: It's to-night at the school. eara py You saw the card. I gave it to you. Para: Never saw it. You don't N.Y. suppose I have time to read all the circulars that come to me, do you? = What do they do? Mamata: Talk over school affairs. Papa: Tell them we are sorry, but Cae we can’t go. Bad enough to have to pay your taxes without being called out to these awful things. In these days a man does not have a moment to him- self. Why don’t you go? Mama: As if I had time. (She delivers the negative message.) Papa (calling the boy): How many things do you have to study? Boy: Algebra, English literature, physiology, chemistry, Latin, German, French, Eugenics —— Papa: When did they introduce that ? Boy: Last week. Para: Well that beats everything. That's the trouble with our school sys- tem. They have about ten times as much as they can do. It makes me wild. (Picks up his newspaper and prepares to resume. Boy hands him @ paper.) Para: What's this? Boy: That’s my monthly report. Will you please sign it on this dotted line? Papa (handing it to Mamma): You sign it. MAMMA (opening the accompanying envelope): Here's a note from the principal. He says—— Para: Well, what does he say? MamMa (reading): “I should be glad if you would visit the school and become acquainted with the work which we are attempting, as the co- operation of the parents is essential to the right progress of the pupil.” Para: As if I had any time. Mamma: I suppose we ought to go, but I have no time, cither. (The boy emerges once more.) Boy: I can't do my lessons if you keep on talking. Para: Well, did you ever hear any- thing like that? It is getting to be so that we have nothing to say in our own house. Something has got to be done about our school system—that’s evident. Mama: Well, why don't you do something ? Para: Well, if that isn’t just like a woman! Why don’t you do something? Boy (from the distance): You had better not. Para: What do you mean? Boy: Because. Manama: Come now, Bobbie, you are concealing something. That's what they teach you at school. Boy (shaking his head solemnly): No, I'm not. It was only what the teacher said Para (turning over his paper to a new Desperate Desmond series): Well, what did your teacher say? Boy (grinning): She says if it was not for my parents I might amount to something. TL Ms comicbooks.com