Life — December 18, 1919 — page 11: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This page contains two distinct pieces: **Left side:** "The Reformer's Progress and End" is a satirical narrative poem mocking a self-righteous crusader. The subject attempts moral reform at age five (correcting grammar), escalates through various causes (censoring swearing, school bullying, street gambling), and peaks at thirty-five by launching an anti-tobacco campaign. The satire culminates when he loses his job—suggesting his self-righteousness and meddling isolate him socially. The poem critiques sanctimonious reformers as hypocritical busybodies whose zeal for controlling others' behavior backfires. **Right side:** A Velvet tobacco advertisement disguised as a sentimental Christmas poem ("The Grown-Up Boys"), featuring a woman and children. Below, copy promotes Velvet pipe tobacco as the ideal gift for pipe smokers. **Bottom left:** A Piso's cough remedy advertisement. The page juxtaposes anti-reform satire with commercial advertisements celebrating indulgence (tobacco, patent medicines).