Life, 1902-10-16 · page 15 of 22
Life — October 16, 1902 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct satirical pieces: **"Coal Comfort"** mocks strikes through a working-class character who paradoxically welcomes hardship, referencing the biblical phrase "heap coals of fire upon my head." **"A Just Rebuke"** satirizes rigid professional etiquette: a doctor refuses to treat a dying woman without notifying her regular physician first, prioritizing protocol over human life—the satire being the absurdity of such formalism. **"Kickers' Column"** is a reader's complaint about Life publishing a cartoon mocking the Pope. The magazine's response is unapologetically irreverent: they mock religious figures as a deliberate editorial mission. This reflects Life's role as a satirical publication unafraid to offend Catholic sensibilities in early 1900s America. **"Expedient"** jokes about legal loopholes: a man avoids arrest for false employment by incorporating himself as a business entity—satirizing how wealth and legalism allow people to evade consequences ordinary citizens cannot.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
RORA ; THIS CREAM 18 souR I"? “T HELP IT, URSIE, THERE'S BEEN TWO COMETS A-BCORCHING ALONG THE MILKY WAY, AND IT'S ALL CURDLED.”” Coal Comfort. APPY the man in these dark days Of atrikes, whose foes are not all dead ; Who meets them merrily and says : “Heap coals of fire upon my head.” Feliz Carmen, A Just Rebuke. ‘Vor BLUMER: Doctor Spray is my regular physician, but I have called you in as he has been called away. Dr. Prose : It will be necessary to notify him first. “But my wife may die in the mean- time, sir.”’ “ What's that todo with professional etiquette, sir?’’ Kickers’ Column. 0 THE EDITOR OF LIFE. T enclose herewith a picture which appears in this week's tasue of your publication. Tam ashamed to say I am a subscriber to your pabilcation, or of any paper whose proprietors would so far forget themselves as to publish, or allow to be pubitsbed in their paper, a picture or cartoon as the enclosed. Your paper may be witty and funny, but when you publish eo-cailed fanny cartoons of the Pope, who {s God's representative on earth, you insult every Catholic in the universe. ‘You may think tt witty, but 1t shows only mean, low-bred bigotry, such as might have existed centuries ago, but which 1s not believed to exist in this enlightened twentieth century. If you have any spark of honor or manhood in you, you will apologize in your next tasue for the insult which you offered, not only toevery Cath- olle, but to every person whose religious bellet teaches them tovenerate and admire those things which they hold aacred. A Catholic, New Yorx, September 2, 1902. Every number of Lire contains allu- sions to persons and things venerated and admired by somebody. This hap- pens to be our mission. Expedient. BENG convinced of the impossibil- ity of supporting his large fam- ily at any of the unskilled felonies, the man hit on the unusual expedient of seeking honest employment. a: “Bat,” he reflected, “ if I seek such employment under my right name, Bill Jones, nobody will hire me ; while if I give my name as Hank Smith, say, I shall be jailed for getting a job by false pretenses. Dear me! What shallI do? Oh, I know. I'll just in- corporate, and seek employment as the Hank Smith Corporation. Then it’s nobody’s business what I do.”” This shows how much better off necessity is by knowing a little law. comicbooks.com