Life, 1908-08-27 · page 3 of 20
Life — August 27, 1908 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes **King Louis of France** through multiple clever jokes. The top illustration depicts dock workers discussing shipping manifest contents—"Home Comers," "Newfoundland Damsels," "Kossuth Oil and Watered Stock"—parodying what the French king allegedly "takes over" when he rules. The poem "In the King's Praise" mockingly celebrates Louis by listing his incompetence: purple floods of gold, empty displays, and incompetent advisors. It contrasts his titles and positions with actual uselessness—he's "Louis the Man" when stripped of royal pretense. The "Poultry Masquerade" cartoon makes a crude visual pun about French decadence or weakness, with roosters discussing rubber overshoes—likely suggesting absurd French fashion or political posturing. The satire targets French royal authority as hollow pageantry masking actual powerlessness.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Home Comer: Outward Bound SHIP AMoy! WHAT YER TAKIN’ oveR? 1: KEROSENE OIL AND WATERED STOCK “TITIANS, TROYONS AND VAN DYCKS.”” In the King’s Praise HEN Louis the king Louis the man ‘Tis Love, the ur onized, rules a court With frolic and revel and moon-lit sport; Let the queen go sulk and the priests go hang— comrade, to the your bow y brain for a quick re- When Louis the king is Louis the man. When Louis the king is Louis of France Tt’s showing of purple and flood of gold, And a steady hilt for your hand to hold Grave ministers, scholars—ambassadors. A stately feast and a decorous dance, A bow to the Montespan touched with cold— When Louis the King is Louis of France When Louis the king is Louis the priest The court is as sad as a dog in Lent: There's cardinal, bishop and penitent (And Montespan praying for audience), A funeral face at a dreary feast— I’ faith, but our knees are forever bent When Louis the king is Louis the priest L True to the church is Louis the priest, True to France is Louis the king; Faithful ever, to praise him least, Though never at once to the selfsame thing, But true to himself and the Montespan Is Louis the man, is Louis the Man! Theodosia Garrison. WHAT YER TAKIN’ BACK? In Mars IRST ASTRONOMER: — What all those spots on the earth? Secon Astkoxomen: Merry hat formations are widow AT THE POULTRY MASQUERADE wity IN WORLD ARE YOU THOSE RUBBER OVERSHOES? su! iat piscuissy aS a DUCK. THE comicbooks.com