Life, 1907-11-07 · page 19 of 50
Life — November 7, 1907 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the Victorian-era nuisance of picture postcards. The poem by Arthur D. Pratt complains that friends traveling abroad bombard him with postcards—especially risqué French ones featuring "naughty soubrettes, scarlet devils, Pierrots and Pierrettes" in scandalous poses. The humor targets both the annoying habit of postcard-sending and the mildly salacious continental designs that embarrass the recipient. The cartoon "Be Modern" jokes about changing language and attitudes: two men discuss someone "getting the cart before the horse," but one corrects him that the modern phrasing is "getting the smell before the automobile"—a dated reference to early automobiles being unreliable and smelly compared to horses. Below is a dictionary of humorous definitions mocking social types and institutions (armies, bachelors, critics, lawyers, prisons), typical of Life's satirical style. The colonial-era illustration contrasts old-fashioned propriety with modern irreverence.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
sa) SN Carte-Postale de Souvenir HEN my friends goon a journey to some far-sequestered spot, As it usually happens, it is my unhappy lot To be harassed and embarrassed with a lithographed bombard- Mcnt of that insistent missive called the picture postal card. From the boulevards of Paris (Illinois, and France, as well); From Australia or Centralia in a picturesque pell-mell, Through the mails they come aflocking To my door; I rather fear That the postman finds them shocking— Cartes-postales de souvenir. Were they merely reminiscent of the countries that the: I could suffer them in silence, but what exert me Are those frisky, somewhat risky, would-be frolicsome designs Bearing family resemblance to the comic valentine: “From one lobster to another” is comparatively mild, But a score of libels daily is enough to set one wild. Naughty soubrettes, scarlet devils, Pierrots and Pierrettes appear In an endless chain of revels— Cartes-postales de souvenir. L'ENVOI When my friends leave on that journey whence we all are forced to go ‘To an unknown destination—either up or down below— Will they with a zeal unending From another distant sphere (Oft I wonder) keep on sending Cartes-postales de souvenir? Arthur D. Pratt. Dictionary Addenda RMY—A body of armed men kept a thousand days to be used but one. * BACHELOR—A wild goose that tame geese envy. CiGar—A martyr whose life is consumed in establishing its character. Coat—A scabbard that offers no guaranty for the blade it sheathe: CoguettE—A mirror that receives all images, but preserves none, 7 VERSATION—An idle man’s business, but a business man’s idleness. THE GOOD OLD COLONIAL TIMES —— pow 2 Mix uizje BE MODERN “YES, BROWN IS ALWAYS GETTING THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE!” “MY DEAR BOY, DON'T BE ARCHAIC; NOWADAYS WE SAY GET- TING THE SMELL BEFORE THE AUTOMOBILE.” Critic—A censor who often revenges his own failures on others’ successe Dent—One of the examples set by government to the people. vER—The breakfast of the poor and the supper of the rich. HION—A decree that followed enhances beauty, but ren ugliness more conspicuous. 1cE—Truth in action. Lawyers—Co-heirs of intestates. Love—The lens that magnifies the good. Op Mai—A woman who has missed the opportunity of making a man happy PAWNBROKER—A man who, for a consideration, holds your coat while you fight. Prisox—An oven into which society puts newly made crime to harden. Souprers—Targets set up by one nation for another nation to shoot at. ‘TENDERNES: THEATRE— Love's passion in repose. ure in the House of Correction. George Birdseye. comicbooks.com