Life, 1916-05-11 · page 29 of 48
Life — May 11, 1916 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct pieces: **Main Illustration**: A sketch of a well-dressed woman and child, captioned "Oh, look, mummy! I'm all ready for the party, too"—a humorous domestic scene with no apparent political content. **"A New Field for Moral Endeavor"**: An editorial essay proposing that wealthy urbanites adopt neglected villages as a moral project, comparing villages to women needing improvement. It specifically references New England villages as particularly challenging cases. This is gentle social satire about civic responsibility and uplift movements. **"Suppose"**: A brief hypothetical about New York City separating from New York State—likely contemporary political commentary, though context is unclear without dating this issue. **Bottom cartoon**: Shows a figure fishing, captioned "Crabbing—He: it's about time I got a bite," a straightforward pun on fishing for crabs versus romantic pursuit. The page mixes whimsy with mild social criticism typical of Life's satirical approach.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“OH, Look, MUMMY! I'M ALL READY FOR THE PARTY, Too” ington (next to the Capitol) shall be the Washington Monument, the Lin- coln Monument, and four big smoke- stacks, one hundred and cighty-eight feet high, in memory of Mr. McAdoo, or the judgment of the Art Commis- sion shall be respected, and the power plant put somewhere else. It is hard to hide a big power plant anywhere; the site chosen is commer- cially convenient; but why have an Art Commission with distinguished archi- tects on it if you aren't going to listen to them? Suppose UPPOSE New York City should re- solve to detach itself from New York State and Albany government and become a self-governing commu- nity, what could New York State do? Fill up the new Erie Canal? Or get its gun and discipline the city? ‘ OKUS be bosom friends, and now they scarcely speak. What's his name? Those two girls used to 905 A New Field for Moral Endeavor VERYBODY who lives in a city ought to own a pet village. If you can’t afford to own one outright then go into partnership with someone else and secure an interest jn one. Our villages are being neglected, Some of them, indeed—much like cer- tain ladies we know—are beautiful, artificial types ornamented with a vil- lage improvement society and_ social ambitions. There are optimists among villages as among people—villa ¢ always looking for something to turn up, hoping for better. days, be- lieving that when spring comes the bad spots will wither and there will be a general architectural uplift. There are mean little villages with skimpy streets, cramped souls hugging their cheap little pieties and bursting, in their small way, with wickedness and corruption, Think—if you were a millionaire (as, indeed, perhaps you are who read these lines)—what a work it would be for you to go out and save all the villages you know. Certainly villages souls, and certainly they may be saved. Perhaps a ingland village would he the hardest to save. But the glory would be all the greater. If you could get any New England village so that it would not be ashamed to look at its own face in the glass, what a moral triumph that would be! have New CRABBING i7’s ABOUT TIME 1 GOT A BITE