Life — February 8, 1917 — page 27: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This domestic satire depicts a bedtime scene where a mother asks her young son if he's said his prayers. The boy's exasperated response—claiming God already knows his wants, so nightly repetition is pointless—mocks ritualistic religiosity without genuine devotion. The cartoon satirizes childhood resistance to rote religious practice and, more broadly, critiques mechanical prayer as ineffectual performance rather than sincere faith. It suggests that demanding children repeat identical prayers each night is tedious and logically absurd from a child's perspective. The illustration style and format indicate this appeared in *Life* magazine, which was known for genteel domestic humor targeting middle-class American readers. The satire takes a light, sympathetic tone toward the boy's rationalism while gently mocking parental insistence on traditional observance.