Life — October 20, 1921 — page 3: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "A White-Collar Pastoral" by Morris Bishop This poem and cartoon satirize the romantic idealization of rural life by office workers. The poem mocks the notion that city professionals could abandon their jobs for pastoral bliss—repeatedly asking "but would they keep?" each romantic scenario, ultimately concluding "I'd lose my job." The cartoon illustrates this tension: a couple in an automobile speeds past a rural homestead, apparently eloping. A police officer attempts to stop them, but the driver dismisses the traffic violation, claiming they're rushing to get married and didn't notice their speed. The satire targets the fantasy of escaping white-collar respectability versus the practical realities of employment and social obligation that trap modern workers in their routines.