Life, 1908-08-06 · page 27 of 54
Life — August 6, 1908 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humorous poem personifying silent letters in English words—letters that are pronounced in older usage but have become silent over time. Each "ghost" character (A, B, C, etc.) laments their obsolescence, explaining words where they once mattered phonetically but now merely confuse children learning to read. The accompanying illustration shows a woman and man on a desert island, with the woman modeling an outfit and asking if it's fashionable. The caption's joke is that after six years isolated, they've completely lost touch with current fashion trends—a commentary on how quickly styles change and how easily one falls behind in modern society. The satire mocks both the arbitrary nature of English spelling conventions and, in the island scene, the fickleness and rapid evolution of fashion and social trends. The page is credited to Jessie Anderson Chase and appears in the August section of the magazine.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Alphabet Ghezis AM the A in Te(ay, (in ec am the Bin Num(b). (And other words ending that way.) am the C in (C)zar, And Lin We(d)nesday the D; reign of Anne ‘twas (Unless in a poem it be.) !¥e died long, long ogo, But they haven't Lurie ; We're left in our words, you knot For Lad little boys to forget. am the F in Chaf(i); 1am the G in (G)nat; am the H in R(h)yme and (Herb, (And si(g)(b), for the matter of that!) am the I in Ma(i)ne, (J's yet oo young, am the K in (K)now, J, the L in Ca(iym and Ta(bk. ghost to walk.) On elder tongues we lived, And each spoke out in his word ; But now, were we all pronounced, We'd sound really quite absurd. The M in (M)nemonics am I, (You'll surely remember me!) The N in Hym(n) and in Kil(n), And the O in R(o)iigh are we. Tam the P in (P)salm, (And in (P)tarmigan, too, try!) Iam the S$ in Ai(s)le, The T in Lis(t)en am T when | Tam the U in Co(u)gh, In Se(v)ennight Iam V; In (W)rite and in Ans(w)er, too, I the W happen to be. (in alphabets of this kind They always omit the X; It's only disguise for —ks, And x-isis merely to ve-x.) AFTER SIX YEARS ON THE DESERT ISLAND “Do you suppose this is the very latest style, Henry, dear?" A sort of semi-ghost I, The Y in Raty) and Qua(y) ; You might have said Rah and Quah, If it hadn't been for me As for Z you'll never guess The word that to me is due; My ghost still vanishes soft When you whisper Rende(z) vous. For we died long. tong ago, Though they haven't buried us yet. We're left in our words, I trow, For even grown-ups to forge Jessie Anderson Chase. Foor-norr: Q © The ghost of an R is found in come sections ut We too queer for rhosthood, country, comicbooks.com