Life, 1918-01-24 · page 13 of 40
Life — January 24, 1918 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical cartoon depicts what appears to be a domestic scene where a professor has advertised in newspapers offering a reward for his missing dog, Mollie—a thoroughbred Boston Terrier. The illustration shows the professor (in formal dress, center-left) addressing a crowd of rough-looking men who've apparently gathered in response to the reward notice. The satire targets both the absurdity of offering monetary rewards for lost pets and the social commentary on who such rewards attract—here portrayed as disreputable characters. The professor's earnest appeal contrasts with the unsavory types surrounding him, suggesting satirical commentary on class differences and the folly of wealthy individuals seeking help from the working classes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
CENE: The home of a college professor. The professor himself is seated at his desk, surrounded on all sides by books, which also line the walls of the room in serried rows. The door opens, and a young man of twenty-one enters, in wiiform Tue S Hello, pop! THe Proressor (looking up vague- ly): Why, hello! Bless me, it is my son! I am glad to sce you. Your mother has heen absent now for some hours, and your sister is, as usual, out, I have some new thought on the war, and I should like to have discourse with you. Tue Sox: Well, pop, I hope you will cut it short. Tue Proressor: I have discovered “LIFE: The New Order a philosophical principle underlying the whole cataclysm, Tue Son: We cares? Tue Proressor (looking at him al- most wildl, What! Can it be that you, too, have degenerated so rapidly? My boy, my boy, I had hopes of you. I may solve the problem of this war. ue Son: Look here, pop, we n as well have a plain talk. I've been fed up on your highbrow stuff all my life, and I have come here in a decent way to make a proposition to make a man of you. Tue Proressor (rising) : you mean? Tue Son: Listen—for once in your life. I know you are not used to it Who , what of it? What do but listen. IT mean no disrespect, but you belong to the passing generation of highbrows, All your life you have been feeding on books and_ theories, and have been spouting them in the class room, until you have become ob- sessed by the thought that you are somebody. You know Latin and Greek and philosophy and psychology and a number of other useless things. Now the world appraises a man at his real value. And how much do you make out of it don’t you? Tue Prorrssor: Tue Sox: an index to a man's practical abilities. Now you fed this stuff into me from the time I was three years old, and I about three thousand a year, What is money? Nothing much, except as THE WILLOWBYS’ WARD. 35 WHEN MOLLIE'S THOROUGHBRED BOSTON TERRIER DISAPPEARED THE PROFESSOR ADVERTISED IN THE PAPERS, OFFERING A REWARD comicbooks.com