Life, 1906-07-19 · page 11 of 28
Life — July 19, 1906 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a photograph labeled "AT LIFE'S FARM—SOMETHING FUNNY" showing a large group gathering at what appears to be a charitable or social event, with a substantial house visible in the background. The accompanying text consists of three separate satirical columns: "The Billboard" (on faith and belief), "Non Possumus" (on prayer and government inspection in England), and "As They Do with Potatoes" (a brief humorous exchange between characters Silas Hayfield and Miss Summerley about growing vegetables). The page appears to mix photojournalism documenting Life magazine's own charitable farm activities with unrelated satirical commentary on contemporary social and religious topics. Without additional context, the specific political figures or events referenced remain unclear.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ee, ee Mr. Mohr adds: “The above makes the condition of the fund look decidedly blue to us; we certainly need money right away.” The sudden falling off in receipts was experienced by many other summer homes last season, owing to the coolness of the weather. Our most prosperous year financially was 1892, when our receipts amounted to $12,254.43. About two hundred children are taken to Lrre’s Farm every fortnight. The cost of transportation and providing for a child averages $3 for two weeks; so, for every $3 sent to this fund a child from the city gets a fortnight’s outing in the country, with as much fresh air and wholesome food as he can utilize. E MUST not say all we mean—or we may be misunderstood. The Billboard 'AITH is mostly begotten of effrontery. Ifa man tells us he can doa thing, no matter what, seven out of ten of us be- lieve him. If he tells us his medicine will do a thing, no matter what, the seven become nine, and even the one remaining is more than half convinced. This is the philosophy of the billboard. It is hideous, but helpful. Better to be- lieve and be buncoed than doubt and be damned. Ineluctable indigestion is ren- dered tolerable by the assurance that there is balm in Gilead, or, anyway, in Battle Creek, or West Baden. Consider by how much the hands of progress are upheld, with patent pills flaring out at you from every dead wall. Life is short and real and earnest, whereas art is long and a good deal of a humbug, at that. Non Possumus “YYJE WANT no canned prayers."—A delegate to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church The difficulty seems to lic largely in the smatter of government inspection. In England, where they order these things better, prayers are put up under such a rigid system of official guaranties that the worshipper has no need to stop and ask himself what he is feeding his soul with, but inasmuch as such conveniences are clearly impossible with us, owing to our constitutional and other limitations, it is probably true that we want no canned prayers. As They Do with Potatoes ILAS HAYFIELD: That stuff grow-" ing over there is cattails. Miss SuameRGret: Do they have to pull them up to get the cats? comicbooks.com