Life, 1921-01-20 · page 24 of 36
Life — January 20, 1921 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical page mocks British intellectual condescension toward America. The top cartoon depicts Lady Astor's hypothetical suggestion that men adopt women's fashions—presented as absurd social commentary. The central image shows the "Literary Digests Fund for Europe's Starving Children," with children gathered around a large cauldron, satirizing how charitable giving becomes corrupted or self-serving. The text below attacks pretentious British visitors and lecturers who come to America speaking in overly simple language ("lectures in words of one syllable"), implying they view Americans as intellectually inferior. It references James Russell Lowell's essay criticizing such foreign condescension. The passage contrasts two attitudes: Herbert Tree, who visited New York without judgment ("irresponsible flitter-through"), versus his companions who brought "tuning-forks"—metaphor for standards to criticize American culture and "catalogue discords." The satire advocates for visiting foreigners to simply observe rather than judge American civilization.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LADY ASTOR SAYS, SUPPOSE MEN SHOULD ADOPT WOMENS’ STYLES IN DRESS. LIFE’S Bi-weekascope LITERARY || DIGESTS || , FUND | Hi, FOR | " EUROPES = 4 STARVING CHILOREN EVERYBODY HELP. EL Thomas Wentworth inson once described the flood ing men of letters which is for- ever sweeping across the Atlantic, from the shores of the British Isles, as emis- saries who are resolved to enlighten us Americans with “lectures in words of one syllable.” And James Russell Lowell once wrote an illuminating pa- per “On a Certain Condescension in Foreigners,” one of the most pungent and penetrating of his essays. It has been suggested—and the suggestion is worthy of serious consideration—that no one of Higginson’s lecturers-in-one- syllable should be allowed to pass through the custom-house examination at the Port of New York unless he could prove that he had read, marked and reasonably digested Lowell's essay. rhaps the custom-house officer who has searched the friendly alien's baggage and his memory ought to be required also to hand him a card containing Robert Louis Stevenson's pertinent re- mark to the impertinent, that “the pleasures of condescension are singularly one-sided.” In a memorial volume to the late Sir Herbert Tree, his half-brother, Max Beerbohm, informs us that when the two of them paid their first visit to New York, the actor was instantly respon- sive to the magic of New York. “He was not the sort of tourist who takes a home-made tuning-fork about with him and condemns the discords.” That is an admirable phrase; and Max goes on to tell us that Herbert “regarded him- self not as a responsible judge, but as a quite irresponsible flitter-through.” Would that the lecturers-in-words-of- one-syllable might all renounce respon sibility and flit’ through the United States, surveying our civilization from a car window as best they can and re- iraining from judgments. Perhaps this is too much to expect. Max records that the actors who ac- companied Tree had not attained to his admirable attitude. ‘ Almost every member of the company had brought over a tuning-fork.” Fortunately, they did not feet impelled to catalogue. all the discords they may haply have dis- covered. BLM. Her Eyes— IGHTS where fair thoughts harbor, Darks where sorrow steals, And a dozen little giggling imps Kicking up their heeis. comicbooks.com