Life, 1908-09-03 · page 15 of 36
Life — September 3, 1908 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three satirical pieces from *Life* magazine: **"The Rumble Seat"** (left): A humorous hunting narrative mocking the writer's failed duck-hunting expedition. The joke centers on his self-righteous refusal to deceive ducks, yet he kills them anyway—then justifies shooting defenseless birds because they're "foolish enough to get up so early." **"Men Wanted"** (right): Social commentary criticizing U.S. Navy recruitment advertising. The article argues the government's elaborate, romanticized ads (showing sailors buying fruit from Spanish women) are unnecessarily expensive propaganda. The satire's point: if jobs are truly scarce (implied by unemployment), the Navy shouldn't need fancy advertising—simple want-ads would bring applicants. The government's shift from factual recruitment to elaborate "ads" suggests either dishonesty or unnecessary spending. **"A Youthful Pessimist"** (bottom): A one-liner joke where a Sunday school boy suggests God regretted creation itself—dark humor about the human condition.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LIF E? 239 THE RUMBLE SEAT and dared those ducks to come near. The idea of deceiving even a duck is repellant to my nature. To do it by getting up at 2 A, M. and sneaking off in a bush-decorated boat about two sizes too small, while you're slowly freezing to death, is not in my line. After we had floated idly about in something remotely (very!) resembling the voluptuous, passionate, Cleopatra style, a streak in the East proclaimed that another day of suf- fering was at hand. Our decoys by this time were having friendly doings with some rank outsiders, persuading them doubtless that this was the spot for permanent home sites where good icy cold water could be squatted on, on the installment plan. A long train of ducks from the congested tenement districts of the North Pole, had just arrived and was settling down on the choice corner lots we had provided, when the guide lifted his left eye- brow three-eighths of an inch. This was the signal for the slaughter. My friend :.nd the guide each killed six or seven of the newcomers. As for my- self, not one decoy duck escaped my trusty gun. Thus the years appeared to drag on until it was time to re- turn to the Waldorf Astoria. “You'll be like another man," said my friend, blythely s1 ping me on my frappéd back. And he was right. Rheuma- tism has done it. Next day, on my way to the best heated sanitarium in the state, I directed that a suitable number of ducks—bought from the guide—be sent by express to my friends at home to remember me by. In the meantime should anyone ask me if I consider it hon- orable to shoot a defenseless bird for the mere hilarious ples ure of the sport, my reply is this: Any duck who is foolish enough to get up so early in the morning ought to be shot in cold blood. y one regret is that instead of doing this I filled those patient decoys with lead—thus making them all the heavier for the next innocent victim my friend will persuade to leave his happy home for a dark, rheumatic, grippe-laden future. T. LM. A Youthful Pessimist NDAY SCHOOL TEACH What did God do on 1 Sabbath day? Bricut Boy: I guess he must have sat around and felt awful sorry for what he had done. Men Wanted HE United States Government has recently indulged in some rather extensive and elaborate magazine adver- tising for naval recruits. In this advertisement the most enticing statements are made, and the accompanying picture is of an immaculate sailor boy in a Peter Thomson suit buy- ing luscious fruit from a delicious looking Spanish senora, the whole exuding an exotic breath calculated to reach the heart of an impressionable youth. It is undeniably attractive, but is it true? A suspicion unavoidably lurks that the pro- mulgators of the advertisement have been guilty at least of exaggeration. If so, is it justifiable? We have been brought up to believe that a democratic government dealing with its people should be impartially truthful. Only foreign diplo- mats should lie, Government advertisements in the past have been nothing beyond the mere colorless statement of facts and needs. Why the change? This new departure brings the suggestion that something is wrong somewhere. We are reliably informed that a large number of men are now out of work. The bare announcement of two or three lines in the want column that a man is wanted at a certain address is sufficient to bring a score. Why. then, should the Government need an expensive “ad’? writer for so good a job as is pictured? If it is all true about that fruit and that romantic senora, why don’t the boys so write home to all their friends, which would result in a veritable bom- bardment of applicants at the recruiting stations? Of course, no one could answer these questions except Andrew Carnegie or Richard Croker, and they are probab’ both abroad. And, besides, we better not take it up until te injunction is disposed of. Ellis O. Jones “DID YOU BRING THAT WIRELESS MESSAGE FoR PA?’” ver? “GEE! THEN YOU MUST EE A WIRELESS MESSENGER,”? comicbooks.com