Life, 1915-11-25 · page 12 of 44
Life — November 25, 1915 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Article: "Decline and Fall of the New England Conscience"** This satirizes the fading moral authority of New England Puritanism. The text argues that the New England conscience—once a powerful cultural force—is dying out, diluted by westward migration and the rise of "plutocrats" and "industrial savants" in cities like Boston and Hartford. A specific anecdote mocks this decline: two stranded New Englanders in 1914 accepted government loans to return home rather than borrowing privately—suggesting moral principles have been abandoned for practical necessity. **Bottom Cartoon: "Leave Early and Avoid the Rush"** Depicts a chaotic domestic scene where a man violently exits through a door while a woman holds curtains. The humor satirizes the popular solution to urban crowding: fleeing the city. It suggests people are so desperate to escape congestion that they're literally running away—even from their own homes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
996 Decline and Fall of the New England Conscience HE Pilgrim fathers amid perils brought over the New Eng- land conscience only a few hundreds of years ago, and planted it firmly (as was supposed) in Massachusetts soil. It came up and flourished. Cuttings from it were made and transplanted in other parts of the Union—notably Kansas and the Middle West. People who come from New England declare that they feel the sap of the New England conscience still running in their veins. But whether it be the number of religions in Boston, or the number of plutocrats in Hartford, or the number of industrial savants in Lawrence and Fall River, the New England conscience, like the buf- falo of the western prairie, is going out. Think, for example, of the two hun- dred New Englanders who, stranded in London at the opening of the war in the summer of 1914, thankfully accepted from the United States Government as a loan enough money to get them home. Think that they got the gold, got home, many LEAVE EARLY AND AVOID THE RUSH ee “RUN! RUN! cousIN MARY!” “WHY, THE DEAR LITTLE THINGS DON’T BITE, DO THEY?” and have never paid up, and that Uncle Sam is now going to sue them. Surely the New England conscience has passed away. Abolishing Sidewalks EW YORK is becoming so over- crowded, it is suggested that all the sidewalks be abolished. This has obvious advantages which ought to be prayerfully considered. Among which are: . Without sidewalks as a possible ref- uge, pedestrians could be run over much easier than under the present antiquated system. What pedestrians may be left have no business on a sidewalk for them- selves. It is the height of selfishness for them to expect this. Without sidewalks, autos could go right up to the doors of shops, thus doing away with the present incon- venience of walking across the side- walk—a crying injustice. There would be more room to turn around without backing. More important than anything else, it would improve the auto trade. Even under these conditions, however, many misguided people who realized that they had the choice of riding in a Ford or being run over by one would doubtless choose the latter. comicbooks.com