Life, 1915-09-30 · page 15 of 45
Life — September 30, 1915 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Main Illustration: "The Three Wise Men"** The sketch depicts three men around a table in what appears to be casual discussion or negotiation. The caption references "The Gentle Art of Making an Ass of One's Self," suggesting satire about self-sabotage or foolish behavior. **Article Content: "Inherent"** The text describes a boy at summer camp who stole a valuable camera from other campers. When discovered, he was subjected to "primitive mob law" — stripped and beaten by the other boys. The article uses this anecdote to comment on fundamental human nature and justice, arguing that thousands of years of civilization cannot suppress inherent mob instincts. The satire critiques both the boy's theft and the mob's violent response as expressions of base human nature.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE THREE Inherent LA summer a certain boy in a boys’ camp stole things from the other boys. Among other articles he took a seventy-five-dollar camera, sent it home to his mother and wrote her he had taken it as a prize in a contest. She wrote her appreciation of a camp that would give such prizes. The camp authorities thereupon searched the boy and discovered that he was the long- looked-for thief. What did the other WISE MEN boys in that camp do? They were all boys from nine to seventeen, sons of nice people. They scerctly seized that boy, marched him for miles in the woods, stripped him, bastinadoed his feet so that he couldn't stand on them, and left him to crawl back to camp as best he could. That is the primitive mob law founded on fundamental justice in- herent in everyone. Thousands of years of civilization are powerless against it. 603 The Gentle Art of Mak- ing an Ass of One's Self T is not always so easy as it seems to make an ass of one’s self. Many grow timid and fail at the crucial moment. Most of us possess at least degrees of judgment and taste. The really great ass almost always reaps his re- y, doubtless, we see so many trying for the goal. If Mr. Roosevelt's speech at Plattsburg had been any less than it was, for ex- ample, or if his after remarks had been other than they were, ward. That is wi he also might have failed. But he knew just what to do. Only by long training can a man acquire the art to be as sure of himself as that. There are always certain people who can be depended upon to do the real work— the dull drudgery, so to speak—and thus keep things going so those who have a talent for making asses of themselves will not be handi- capped. There is always a Robert Lansing somewhere around. But the real reason why the man who starts out to make an ass of himself and works faithfully is likely to succeed is that his — recklessness is generally mistaken for courage. AN OVERCHARGE IN 11S BILL. comicbooks.com