Life, 1907-01-31 · page 21 of 24
Life — January 31, 1907 — page 21: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertisements** mixed with satirical content. The main cartoon, titled "How the Debauch Began," depicts three men at a dinner table. The caption explains that a strict vegetarian, recklessly abandoning his dietary principles, declares he'll order another dish of prunes—satirizing how even small moral compromises can lead to excess. The humor plays on Victorian-era anxieties about self-control and dietary virtue. The "debauch" is ironic: merely eating prunes (a modest indulgence) represents moral failure to the vegetarian, yet he's resigned to inevitable descent. The page also advertises Gerson's whiskey ("always good whiskey"), a Hamburg-American Line steamship cruise, and Beeman's Pepsin Gum. The accompanying poem about "Evans' Ale" romanticizes alcohol as spiritual transcendence—typical period advertising rhetoric. The overall effect satirizes both the era's dietary fads and how advertising exploited anxieties about indulgence and respectability.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIFE HIP ‘The magnis- LZ cent Express Genuine REARS Be esses THIS IS THE OPPORTUNITY to travel in comfort and safety on @ steamship that contains every modern convenieace and appliance that ingenuity can suggest, purchase, The $ Dei aves New ry 4th, 1907, for Gibraltar, jenoa, making tho trip to ivan less than 8 dase. Historic Italy, the South of France, and the matchless Riviera can be conveniently ‘visited, also excellent connection made at Naples with the 8. 8, ““ Oceans” for Alexandria, Egypt. 3 First Cabin Rates, 8117.50 upward, including stateroom accommodations and mecls. Two special tours, rates including all necessary ¢x- = | peuses, have been arranged in connection with this sailing, as follows: Is always | good whiskey A] Includes sightseeing in Spain, Italy so ban, | and the Htviers returning oa. the “Deutschland,” leaving Genoa Feb, Cost 8300 | 21, 1907. Including sightseeing in Italy and the Riviera—returning by the 8. 8, 9 iggabure,” leaving Genoa March Al ngs to Gibraltar, Naples and Genoa by the steamers *Afoltke,” “Hamburg” and “Bo- ic.” HAMBURG-AMERICAN LINE 4 Z\ 85-87 Broad: LN PORtate Kt. Boston 122: ot Bt. Patindelpbie [Ry oe, iN WL Olive St, Bt. Lewls = 159 yh Bt, ~rece’ eS O08 Market St.. San Franct - anes 860 2: Cone ses “T was a care,” the presence said, w York | mani Complete particulars, plans, booklets, etc., at the or, ba | So filmy and so frail, “Cast out of a great poet by A mug of Evans’ Ale. A drop of that elixir still Unto my spirit clings, And now I drift, a golden joy, On eighteen-carat wings.” P yecreeeeeoeeererce CHEW... Beeman’s THE OsIGINAL Pepsin Gum » « Cures lodigestion nd Sea-sickness. ‘AML Others are_Imitations. zy HOW THE DEBAUCH BEGAN VIRST VEGETARIAN (seized swith the TO HAVE ANOTHER DISH OF PRUNTS. er of reckleconess): 1 DON'T CARE what HAPPENS; I'M GOING. PHOPH Sede ees e soo ®, comicbooks.com