Life, 1909-04-22 · page 15 of 32
Life — April 22, 1909 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page presents philosophical and satirical content about the meaning of life, organized around the acronym L-I-F-E. **The Main Satire:** The opening epigraph by Sada Louise Cowan jokes about women's traditionally limited voices—she's "talked and chattered" her whole life, but now that Life magazine gives her a platform, she has "nothing to say." This is gentle social satire about women's intellectual dismissal in the era. **The Cartoons:** - The top illustration shows Adam and Eve with Eve saying she "haven't a thing to wear" to see the apple blossoms—a playful reference to women's eternal fashion concerns, even in paradise. - The lower left shows a maid who dropped a dust cloth, responding to an accident. - "Court of Last Resort" (bottom right) appears to show death-related imagery. **The Essay:** Ella Wheeler Wilcox's philosophical piece breaks "LIFE" into four letters representing Love, Ideals, Faith, and Energy—presenting an earnest, spiritual self-help message typical of early 20th-century magazines. The page mixes genuine philosophy with gentle mockery of both women and human pretension.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘Tis Always So | ag talked and chattered all my years, (For thus is woman's way)— And now that Lire gives me a chance, I haven't a thing to say. Sada Louise Cowan. ‘ Life vith witeecenwiteox « HAT is life?” What is there in life? Does life pay?” Life is composed of four letters. The first letter of life is also the first letter of Love, and Luck. Possessing life, we should possess as well its two four lettered contempo- raries. They come at call. He who seeks, finds. Love is the centre and circumference, the cause, and aim of all things. "Tis the key to joy and sorrow, and the recompense for all the ills that have been, or may be. Luck is the tuning of our thought, to chord with God's great plan. That done, ob, know, thy silent wishes to results shall grow; and one by one, shall miracles be wrought. Life, Love and Luck, make heaven. The second letter of Life is I. I stands for Ideals. Life without ideals is a night without a star, a desert without an oasis. inmost NORA, WHAT WAS THAT CRASH?” I DROPrED ME DUST CLOTH, MUM.” Adam: are you GOING To THE APPLE-BLOSSOMS’ COMIN Eve: 1 pon’? SEE MOW I CAN, DEAREST; I HAVEN'T A THING TO WEAR. Life with ideals is aa eternal dawn. rich with the possibilities of coming day; a green road leading through whis- pering forests, and by rippling rivers. Possessing life, we should possess ideals, and hold to them however en- vironed by the commonplace. Ideals, persistently pictured by the mind, become realities; and by and by we find there is no world of the com- monplace, but only varying planes of interest and beauty. The third letter in life is F. F stands for Faith. For Faith and Foundation; and faith is indeed the foundation rock of all that is worth while in life. Faith brings happiness, hope, and suc- cess. Possessing life, we should possess faith in Sapreme Love, Eternal Justice, and the God within ourselves. Life and Faith are an invincible pair. They scale all heights, they leap over all ob- stacles, they conquer all difficulties, they vanquish all foes. They stand face to face with death himself and cry, “There is no death.” And death dis- appears, leaving the pathway clear to Life, progressive and eternal. The last letter in life is E. E stands for Energy and for Eternity. In the difficult battles which every soul must fight, in the simplest and safest walks of life, energy is a most important quality. It is because so few souls develop the mine of energy lying within themselves that earth's highways are so cumbered by failures There is nothing which cannot be achieved by immortal man, radiant and indor mind and body. Upon our development and use of energy depends the ability to possess love, luck and faith. It requires un- remitting energy to awaken the highest self, the self which realizes its unity with Universal Life; and it requires patient and persistent energy to exorcise and annihilate that petty selfish self which stops in the path of progress toward Life Eternal, and asks, “Does life pay?"? and “What is life? Possessing life, therefore let us pos- sess love, luck, faith and energy, and press on to the heights, and stand there proclaiming : Life is God able, with energy of “‘couRT OF LAST RESORT’? icbooks.com