Life — December 30, 1915 — page 7: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Cynic" by Henry M. Utley Branch This page presents a poem titled "The Cynic" attributed to Leelyn Louise Everett, paired with an illustration showing a crashed airplane near a river with mountainous terrain. The poem's text describes encountering someone with a "cold heart, steel-riveted and bound" and searching their "secret chest in search of Hope"—only to discover beautiful hidden roses they'd refused to acknowledge. The illustration's caption reads "MOTOR TROUBLE AND THE ONLY AVAILABLE LANDING PLACE," depicting an emergency aircraft landing in wilderness, suggesting a forced confrontation with nature and reality. Together, the page appears to present a romantic or philosophical allegory: the cynic must abandon their mechanical worldview and confront raw, natural truth—the "hidden roses" representing beauty and hope they've intellectually denied.