Life, 1908-11-12 · page 9 of 24
Life — November 12, 1908 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct sections: **Top illustration** ("Compound Interest"): Shows well-dressed men at what appears to be a banking or financial counter, with a fashionably dressed woman on the right. The caption suggests this is satirizing financial practices or banking procedures, though the specific reference is unclear without additional context. **Bottom section** ("The Stuffing Habit" and "Unsuccessful Diagnosis"): The left cartoon depicts a portly figure being force-fed, satirizing American Thanksgiving overeating culture. The right text section presents a humorous medical dialogue where doctors diagnose a man's persistent cough through various competing theories (stomach ailments, vaccination effects, etc.), ultimately ending with a widow refusing to pay the medical bill—satirizing medical incompetence and quack diagnoses. Both pieces mock American social practices and professional pretension of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
wis TERESTY “COMPOUND INTEREST” The Stuffing Habit. Te American has three National stuffing days— Phanksgiving and Christmas, and } one a week, on Sunday. The people who live in cities, and who can afford it, stuff themselves continuously, Not satisfied with eating as much as they can hold under natural conditions, they drink cocktails beforehand to stimulate their and wines and whiskies in between, to stir up the jaded stomach to renewed exer- tions. An American square meal is a gastronomical horror. Its secret purpose, disguised by fine linen, delicate china and a nii ble service, is in reality a “ gorge,” differing only in its hypocritical refine- ments and the strength of the actors, from the prehistoric orgies of the Angles and the Saxes. But it is on Thanksgiving and Christ at the American makes his supremest effort. The meal is usually served in the middle of the day, when the vitality is supposed to be at its height. A goodly number of relatives and visitors having arrived, the table is sur- rounded, and the ghastly ceremony proceeds. If there are children—and this frequently happens—they are goaded on by their superiors to eat until they cannot swallow any more, and if a child has unusual abilities at the stuffing process, his attainments become the target for the delicate and subtle wit of the entire company. After every- one has eaten to the point of exhaustion, pies and cakes are then brought on, and disposed of in a sort of coma, after which long cigars are lighted and the air recks with all sorts of poisons. Inhaling this air for some hours, and exchanging ejaculatory remarks about the weather and the foot ball game, the guests then boisterously depart, declaring that they have had “the time of their lives.”” These two days were originally set apart, one of them as a day of fasting and thanksgiving, and the other to commem- orate the fact that we are a Christian people. Unsuccessful Diagnosis HE Man's cough grew worse, so he resorted to the physi- cians. “From the stomach, I think,’” said Dr. Simtom “Pardon me, there is no such thing as a cough from the stomach,” answered Dr. Modern. “From the effects of vaccination, I should say, Dr. Nature. “Indeed,"” replied his colleague, Dr. Serum, “let me re- mind you that (except tetanus, blood-poisoning and graft), there are no evil effects of vaccination.”” “Well,” said Dr. Experiment, “it is not to be expected that we should all agre “On one thing we are a to charge five dollars apiece But the widow refused to pay. announced reed,"’ cried Dr. Getrox, “ that is comicbooks.com