Life, 1915-04-01 · page 26 of 72
Life — April 1, 1915 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Illustration ("Death"):** Shows a grim reaper figure confronting a motorist on a dangerous cliff road overlooking water. The caption's dark humor warns recklessly speeding drivers they're courting death—a cautionary comment on automotive safety hazards. **Main Text:** A satirical essay criticizing German academic pretentiousness. The author mocks how German professors publish absurd, far-fetched theories (claiming Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo were German based on ridiculous linguistic or physical "evidence") that get patronized by German academies and courts. The text contrasts this with Anglo-American skepticism toward such unfounded claims. The author's bitter conclusion: German academics' wild theorizing flourishes during peacetime. **Bottom Illustration ("Boarder Warfare"):** A humorous domestic scene depicting children apparently engaged in "boarder" conflict—likely depicting sibling rivalries or boarding school quarrels as comedic commentary on household chaos. The page reflects pre-WWI tensions and intellectual stereotypes about German scholarship.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Death: wey, Go EASY! THIS 1S A DA that in England and America such overstrained guess- work is not so easily admitted to be the first thought of the nation. We in England do not think that a man who proves that the English are the Lost Ten Tribes has demonstrated anything except his lost ten wits. I do not suppose that President Wilson or Doctor Eliot regard the Mormons as having enlarged their ideas at the time when they enlarged their domestic establishments. But in Germany fancies just as far-fetched, as impatiently accepted, as pig-headedly pursued, as the divine origin of the English or the divine mission of the Mormons are not only paraded before the public, but patronized by the udemies, the responsible social circles and the court The books published by Teutonic professors are full of them, Not one of them has any more balance or real brainwork than the nonsense about wasps and aspirations that I have been writing to amuse an idle half-hour—in you, though not in me. One accepted Prussian historian said that Leonardo da Vinci must have been a German, Deeause several Italians said he had beautiful hair; and several Italians have admired fair hair. To the pure EROUS PLACE, AND YOU WERK BORN 10 BE HUNG scientific there seem to be some logical links wanted. An- other professor said that Michael Angelo must have been a German, because his surname ended in “ rotti"; wiich is her like “roth”, I should be content to say that it is even more like rot, and to add one fact which I had forgotten about the natural history of professors. They flourish in time of peace. BOARDER WARFARE comichooks.,