Life — July 20, 1916 — page 29: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page presents numbered cartoon vignettes satirizing American rural and small-town life. The sketches mock stereotypical figures: **#7**: A farmer defending his property with exaggerated gestures **#8-9**: Rural characters in rain, and a sheriff being summoned **#10**: A county courtroom scene with authority figures **#11**: A double-barreled gun, emphasizing rural weaponry **#12**: "The First Train to Town"—depicting the arrival of modernity to rural areas **#13**: "The Home"—domestic life, showing a couple in their bedroom The satire targets rural simplicity, legal informality, and resistance to modern change. The cartoons appear to contrast unsophisticated country life with urban sophistication, using exaggerated physicality and crude settings to suggest backwardness. This reflects early-20th-century urban magazines' condescension toward rural America.