Life, 1907-01-31 · page 5 of 24
Life — January 31, 1907 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The page features a romantic poem titled "My Lady of the South" alongside a dark photographic image showing a figure illuminated by what appears to be a spotlight or beam of light in an otherwise black scene. Below the image sits a satirical section titled "What They Should Eat," listing professions paired with specific foods as jokes: - Policemen should eat beets - Gamblers should eat Saratoga chips - Chiropodists should eat corn - Printers should eat pi The accompanying text discusses a Chicago Tribune amendment regarding dog punishment, sardonically suggesting scientists could torture dogs for entertainment—social satire on vivisection practices and the casual cruelty sometimes justified in the name of science education. The juxtaposition of romantic poetry with dark imagery and cynical humor was typical of Life's approach to contemporary issues.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
eS My Lady of the South TH her dainty arasol she walks Around her feet soft petals fall, she hears the songbird’s round In fluffy, gauzy garments, lightly She passes where the sunbeams brightly Sift through the arching canopy that blos- som-laden boughs have made, And while I long for April, she serenely loiters in the shade, Beneath a sunny Southern sky she hums a tender song, mayhap, Or folds her hands and lets them lie con- tentedly within her lap; While I must keep the gas-log blazing, She sits beside the seashore, gazing At graceful sails far off and white, or plucks the luscious orange, where They gladly yield to her the right to help herself, since she is fair. “A MAN'S A MAN OR AT THAT” Far in the sunny Southland, clad in dainty, gauzy, fluffy things, Perhaps each morning finds her glad, per- haps each day new pleasure brings; And there my heart is with her straying, Where petals round her feet are playing, While here, blue-nosed, the rest of me is kept to bear the winter’s ills, And cope with grim necessity: I'm hubby, and must pay the bills. S. E. Kiser. What They Should Eat OLICEMEN should eat beets. Gamblers—Saratoga chips. conductors should eat jam. ropodists—corn, Printers—pi. After-dinner speakers—taffy. Henpecked husbands should eat quail. Offfice-seekers—plums. Cc Dentists—gum-drops. Insurance presidents—dough. “Best Friends” HE Chicago Tribune tells us that— Ald. Badenoch had passed an amendment to the code ordering that all dogs confined in the pound and med by their owners shall be turned over to ical colleges for experimental purposes. So this might be a dog’s punishment in Chicago for having neither home nor friends; to be tortured at the leisure of the medical “scientist” —elaborately and systematically tortured. And this par- ticular form of scientist knows well how to do it. If the dog is still breathing when the scientist has finished with him then the students can have a little fun. “Man’s best friend” may have inter- esting ideas of civilization.