Life, 1916-07-20 · page 16 of 44
Life — July 20, 1916 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Main Content:** The page honors Edward Sandford Martin, editor of *Life* magazine, upon receiving a Master of Arts degree from Harvard. The tribute praises Martin as an institution providing "kindly wisdom" and "gentle philosophy" to readers over many years, and credits him as a spokesman for both traditional and progressive American values. **Cartoons:** 1. **"Follow Your Leader"** (top): An ancient game illustration showing children in a line following a leader—likely satirizing conformity or herd behavior, though the specific contemporary reference is unclear. 2. **Street scene cartoon** (bottom): Shows children at an ice cream stand, with a child being warned not to drink cold beverages when overheated—a practical health joke about parental concern. **Poem "Disqualified"** by Corinne Rockwell Swain mocks modern literature trends (motor cars, aviation, war, detective stories, sexual content, divorce) that the author cannot or will not write about, expressing inability to produce "the modern story." The page reflects early 20th-century anxieties about modern sensationalism in fiction.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Our E. S. M. E are reprinting this graceful trib- ute from the New York Tribune without the sanction and without the knowledge of Mr. Martin. His mod- esty might lead to objections. “ELS. M.,” AM. (HARVARD) The season has now arrived when the heavens open and a flood of de- grees falls upon the righteous and the unrighteous with reasonable im- partiality, The circumstance has be- come so familiar that it is only occasionally that some particularly happy bestowal commands general interest. There are, however, many thou- sands of us who will find pleasure in the fact that Harvard has honored herself and Edward Sandford Martin by conferring upon him the degree of Master of Arts. Mr. Martin is an institution; he does not belong “ exclusively,” as we say in journalese, to Lire. Harvard, although she claims him as a son, cannot now annex his place in our sun. Over years he has brought us week by week a store of kindly wis- dom, of gentle philosophy, of clear thinking and of true feeling. If his sword has a sharp point its wound is never with the blade and there is no scar. In these last two years Mr. Mar- tin has been the most conspicuous spokesman for that old America which is a reverent memory and for that new America which holds all our hope and all our loyalty. Har- vard has done well to share her honors with a son who has brought to his alma mater much honor and to all of us much pleasure and real profit. ANCIENT GAME “ FOLLOW YOUR LEADER” Disqualified Y ignorance I oft display Of motors, monoplanes and ships; I shy from husky brutes who stray On tropic tours and arctic trips; I'm stupid at detective “tips,” I balk at war, so crude and gory: Thus from my brow the laurel slips— I cannot write the modern story! T am not keen fer plots oxtré; My pen from sex researches skips; I don't enjoy a divorcée, With yearnful eyes and lips; My hero never rants and rips With rhetoric declamatory : Too much for me, the grips "— I cannot write the modern story! Corinne Rockwell Swain. languorous “stuff that “COME RIGHT AWAY, WILLIE FIREFLY ; HAVEN'T 1 TOLD YOU NEVER TO TAKE COLD DRINKS WHEN YOU ARE OVERHEATED?” comicbooks.com