Life, 1902-02-20 · page 5 of 20
Life — February 20, 1902 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 145 This page contains two distinct satirical pieces: **"Lenten Soliloquy"** (left): A decorative poem by Clinton Scollard mocking upper-class women's Lenten sacrifices. The speaker humorously claims to renounce cards, flirtations, and chocolates—trivial deprivations compared to genuine religious observance. The satire targets wealthy society women who treat Lenten abstinence as fashionable performance rather than spiritual commitment. **"Vive l'Fournier!"** (right): Commentary on Fournier, a French race-car champion traveling at eighty miles per hour on country roads. The satire criticizes both Fournier's recklessness and the British government's failure to regulate such dangerous driving. The cartoon below ("Piping Times") depicts pedestrians being knocked airborne by speeding vehicles—visual commentary on the collision between modern automotive technology and public safety. Both pieces satirize contemporary excess and institutional inadequacy.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
-LIFE- 145 Awake, Brother! ‘odern Society, in its issue of December 7th, had a slap at the cloth: ‘The outlook 1s certainly more hopefal now that able medical men are beginning to protest against the infernal torture of poor beasts, and also against {ts uselessness, In time, perhaps rministers — of religion, who are singularly callous as a body to the woes of the —=, awe GOAN dumb creation, may stie In their comfortable study chairs, as S—— SF SES they read that many people now question why Christianity has y > Wie @ ) a sackdloth wretched kitten Kept to amuse the little darlings. When alms are bestowed, And gowns made of gray and of black cloth Are quite in the mode; When plays get the church's indictment, : And likewise levees ; And all that one has for excitement Are afternoon teas! WY, done so little for antmats, British parents may even Interfere ITP IIS the season of ashes and ; \ when thelr youngsters Ill-use the family cat and balf-kill the I've given up cards and cotillions, And coquetry’s wile ; Stopped envying Mary her millions, And Gertrude her smile; No more for me wagers on winners With losses to rue! I've sworn off on tete-a-tete dinners— And chocolates, too! Till Easter no bill for new bonnets Will shock poor Papa; I'm studying Shakespeare—(his sonnets! ) To please dear Mamma! My freaks and my follies are fewer; I've scarcely a whim ; And I’ve cast off each suitor and suer, But HIM! Clinton Scotard, Vive 1’Fournier! WW E ate informed that Fournier, the cham- “HAVING HIS DAY.” fon chauffeur, gocs as fast as eight sattee'se hou along csuney roads, su ASPER: The British Government is having How extremely pleasant it must be for ordi- a tongh timo of it just now. nary people to use country roads where they are liable to.meet vehicles goingat © JUMPUPPE: I should say so. Their failures the rate of cighty miles an hour! are scourged by Kipling and their successes Fournier's machine is described as a monster affair, having the power of sixty praised by Austin. horses. This is distinctly for- tunate. The likelihood is that who should be run an automobile of that size, going at such a speed, would never know what hit him. No undertaker would have the face to charge much for burying what there would be left of him. A ND now George Wash- ~~ ington: First in war, first in peace, and prominent g in some of the best-selling novels of the day ! PIPING TIMES, comicbooks.com