Life, 1903-12-10 · page 32 of 58
Life — December 10, 1903 — page 32: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main illustration depicts a humorous Christmas scene: Santa's sleigh is pulled by reindeer at high speed down a snowy hill, with the caption "Santa Takes His Reindeer in Case of an Emergency." This is a visual gag—the image suggests Santa is commandeering his reindeer for urgent, non-holiday purposes, treating them as an emergency vehicle. Below are two separate pieces: "The Little Kibosh" is a whimsical nonsense poem by Carolyn Wells featuring absurdist imagery (sailing to the moon in a pumpkin pie, a green-haired creature named Hoppity Lee). It parodies sentimental children's verse through deliberate nonsense. "Evidence" is a brief joke about telepathy: a man receives unexpected payment he was owed, then simultaneously receives a bill request from his wife—implying they're somehow mentally connected or the universe balances itself out. The humor relies on coincidental timing and marital finance dynamics.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SANTA TAKES W198 REINDEER IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY The Little Kibosh. “TT was ever so many years ago, On a prairie by the sea, A little Kibosh I used to know, By the name of Hoppity 1 His hair was as green as the driven snow, And his cheeks were as blue as tea. ‘Twas just about night, or nearly noon, When Hoppity Lee and I Decided to go for a sail to the moon, Or at least, as far as the sky ; of taking the Big Balloon, We sailed in a Pumpkin Pie. Dear little Hoppity Lee and I Were happy and glad and gay. “CNEATH THE suaDE OF ‘TuE SHELTERING PALM.” But the Dog-star came out as we passed by, And began to bark and bay. And the little Kibosh fell out of the pie And into the milky way. I fished and fished, for a year and a wee For dear little Hoppity Lee ; And at last I heard a small, faint squeak From the place where he seemed to be. And he said, ‘ Go home and nevermore seek, Oh, nevermore seek for me.” Carolyn Wells, Evidence. “T O yon believe in telepathy ?”” “ Well, this morning a man paid me a hundred dollars he owed me, and this after- noon I got a letter from my wife asking for a hundred.”’ comicbooks.com