Life, 1910-01-13 · page 15 of 36
Life — January 13, 1910 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page presents a **reader contest** rather than a traditional cartoon. The central illustration shows a domestic scene: a well-dressed man holds a telegram while a woman, child, and small dog observe. The challenge asks readers to deduce what message the telegram contains—a puzzle based on visual clues in the scene. The page also includes humorous content: a satirical song mocking British politics (referencing the Prime Minister and Cabinet, with a woman violently protesting), and a brief anecdote about a suburbanite child's confusion about elevators. The contest structure—paying $100 for the best answer—was typical of early 1900s **Life magazine's interactive humor**, encouraging reader participation. The puzzle requires interpretation of the scene's visual narrative to reconstruct the telegram's implied message, making this a form of visual-linguistic wordplay popular in that era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
What Does This Telegram Say? UFE WILL PAY $100 FOR THE BEST ANSWER TO THE QUESTION ABOVE Ten Dollars a Word HE picture on this page represents an unusual situation. Please study it carefully, and see what you can make out of it, Note every detail. When you have made up your mind what ten words or less the telegram in the man’s hands might contain, exclusive of the address and signature, write it out and mail it to the Telegraph Editor of Lire, with your name and address. The cleverest telegram, in the judgment of the editors of Live, will be awarded the prize of one hundred dol- Jars. Everybody is eligible. But no more than three telegrams will be accepted from any one contestant. The contest will close on March 1, 1910, no answers received after that date being considered. The announce- ment of the winner will be made as soon thereafter as possible. A New English Song H, father, dear father, come home with me now, They’ve put gentle mother in jail; For o'er the Prime Minister's criminal brow She, deftly, inverted a pail; Then scattered some Cabinet Members in flight With ancient tomatoes, undressed, And handed a Bishop a good woman's right About where his pants met his vest. They jugged her; but don’t feel disgraced, Dad, I pray: It took six policemen to lead her away B*™. MARJORIE, who is a suburbanite, went shopping with her mother for the first time. She had never been in an elevator before. In telling her thrilling adventures to her father she said, “We went into a little house and the upstairs came down,” comicbooks.com