Life, 1906-06-21 · page 7 of 28
Life — June 21, 1906 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical piece critiques food fraud and adulteration—common concerns in early 20th-century America. The sketch shows a well-dressed man and boy confronting a woman, with the title suggesting she's a dishonest butcher or food seller ("shambles" = butcher's market). The poem mocks a fool who bought allegedly "hash" that was actually discarded meat from food inspectors. The repeated refrain "(Even as you and I!)" suggests this deception was widespread and normalized. The satire targets both the dishonest merchant and consumer gullibility—the "fool" who believes false claims about food quality. The "vampire" metaphor indicates the seller profits by selling dangerous, worthless meat to unsuspecting customers. This reflects genuine Progressive Era anxieties about food safety before modern regulations.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
i ma LUTTLE QUESTIONS “YATHER, MUST 1 GET MARRIED Some True?” The Vampire of the Shambles WITH APOLOGIES TO MR, R—DY—D K—PL—G (Written for the delectation of dinner-parties, when the conversation flags and the Homely Gitl, who was invited at three o'clock that afternoon to fll a sudden ancy, and who is always good natured ai is said to be kind er mother, is not eminently tactful, casually asks the Sad-looking Young Man on the far the table if he has read The Jungle: whereupon the Sweet Young Thing irom Washington Square North is suddenly heard to temark faintly that she H care for any of the roast, and the Hostess mentally revises ber ‘Husband fatuously strives to change the subject, but can't ink of anything but the San Francisco horror and ‘the latest secident, both of whith topics are,for personal reasons, particularly _ distressing to the stout and somewhat distinguished lady on his right) FOOL. there was and he paid his cash (Even as you and 1!) a.can of Armour’s Patented Hash (They knew it was nothing but scraps and trash), But the fool he supposed that it really was hash (Even as you and I!) Oh the ham we buy and the lamb we buy And the things that we put inside Are made by a Trust without any soul (For Sinclair says that it has no soul), And I don't believe that he lied. A fool there was and he hought some beef (Even as you and I!), At least he bought it in that belief (But the Trust that embalmed it was only a thief), But the fool, of course, had no relief (Even as you and I!) Oh: the cats we eat and the rats we eat And the horrible things that are sold Are worked ona public that does not know (And now we know that we never did know), Or didn’t till Sinclair told. The fool he dined in his foolish pride (Even as you and 1), It was stuff the Inspectors had thrown aside (For they knew it was soaked with formaldehyde) And the fool was so ill that he almost died (Even as you and I!) And it isn't the ham and it isn’t the jam That gives us that worried look; It's coming to know they were only a bluff (Seeing at last they are only a bluff)— For we've all been reading the book. \ueyrayy Syeese comicbooks.com