Life, 1915-08-12 · page 15 of 40
Life — August 12, 1915 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical cartoon depicts a chaotic street scene where a horse-drawn cart laden with goods has overturned, scattering produce and debris everywhere while pedestrians scatter in panic. The illustration satirizes the romanticized notion of working-class aspiration—specifically, the idea that every boy dreams of becoming a teamster or cart driver (a common working-class occupation of the era). The humor lies in the visual contradiction: rather than depicting an orderly, dignified profession, the cartoon shows the reality—chaos, danger, and disaster. The accompanying text discusses injuries from a horse accident, reinforcing that such work was actually hazardous and unglamorous, mocking the notion that this represented genuine ambition or success for young men.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
from being swelled oyt so far, and he let out his breath with a sigh. A suave young man was admitted. After ascertaining that Mike Kallaher really lived in this place he asked Mike how he was feeling. “Good,” was the truculent answer. “No injuries from your little ad- venture this afternoon?” “Injured, is it? Not a bit—not a bit.” “I'm glad to hear that. I'm assist- EVERY BOY'S AMBITION ant manager of the Burke Construc- tion Company. We heard one of our horses fell on you to-day, so I came down to help out if you were hurt. We thought we could afford to pay a few hundred dollars on doctor bills.". The young man smiled pleas- antly. “ But since you're not hurt and are so willing to admit it, we won't have that pleasure. Good-bye.” He got up and went. Kallaher had forgotten to swell out his chest again. He sat drooping in his chair. His wife was no longer tentative. “Horse heaver, is it?” She ad- vanced, menacing. “Horse heaver? You poor mick! There goes your chance to be a cripple for life and die rich.” She pulled his face up by the front hair and slapped him like a mother. “Horse heaver, is it? Take that, now!” And Kallaher took it. comicbooks.com