Life, 1917-09-13 · page 11 of 44
Life — September 13, 1917 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The top illustration satirizes wealthy industrialists' hypocrisy regarding child labor. The caption quotes a gentleman praising "arbuthnos" (likely a fictional wealthy family) for raising children as "useful citizens," while noting these same rich children "can't stop working"—a sarcastic jab at how the wealthy exploit poor children's labor while their own offspring remain idle. The Mother Goose and Old Mother Hubbard verses below appear to be satirical retellings mocking economic inequality and poverty. The "little man" story references someone attempting to use an old, non-functional gun—possibly satirizing the desperate circumstances of the poor. The small illustration labeled "A SOT TO CERBERUS" appears to reference classical mythology, though its specific satirical meaning is unclear without additional context.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“ JUST LOOK AT THESE ARBUTHNOTS, HENRY, Mother Goose ARY had a little lamb, Its fleece was white as snow; And putting it up at auction, she sold the fleece and other nourishing portions for such a fabulous sum, and realized such a handsome profit in the stocks that she bought with the proceeds, that now every- where that Mary goes various lim- ousines, maids, dressmakers, tai- lors, jewelers and bond men Are sure to go. Old Mother Hubbard Went to the cupboard To get her poor dog a bone. But when she got there She discovered that a syndicate had taken out the privileges and had portioned off the bone into lots, had the title transferred, and had made enough money to hire a cor- poration lawyer to defend them against any possible government interference. And so neither Mrs. Hubbard nor her poor dog Got anything. There was a little man And he had a little gun And the bullets were made of lead. At least, so he supposed, until upon in- vestigation he discovered that, al- though he had been given two years’ notice, the gun was so old that it couldn't be used, and as for the bullets, there was only one on hand and that didn’t fit. Neverthe- less he said to himself, “I will raise my little gun and take a shot 411 THEY'VE BROUGHT UP THEIR CHILDREN AS USEFUL ) AND NOW THEY ARE RICH THE POOR CHILDREN CAN'T STOP WORK at Fritzy Hun,” which he did, and in about five or six years of con- stant shooting, in which the little man had spent everything he had, he succeeded in Shooting off his head. A SOT TO CERBERUS comicbooks.com