Life, 1910-01-27 · page 34 of 36
Life — January 27, 1910 — page 34: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the early 1900s American craze for automobiles. The poem "The New Obsession" by H.D. Gestitt mocks how completely motor vehicles have infiltrated daily life—farmers use "automocows," doctors drive "automobiles," and even golf caddies are now "automocaddies." The satire works by stacking absurd automobile-prefixed neologisms to show how obsessively society has embraced motoring: "automorides," "automojigs," "automo-legs," "automo-eggs," "automohoop." The punchline—"every old barn has become a garage"—captures how this new technology is reshaping American infrastructure and values. This reflects genuine early-1900s anxiety about rapid technological change displacing traditional rural life. The poem's exaggeration was likely relatable to readers experiencing genuine disruption from automobiles appearing in their communities.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘THE PREMIER OF RUSSIA Then wo scate the rest Premier Solypia, to his Majesty's holyeris. tee igrice on the days hea Rad-Weidge be plays, Vor'he shares witht Rua the fotysi.** SILK VELOUR PLAYING CATDS . colors and pre a8 The New Obsession Oh, it’s motoring here and it’s motoring there, I;’s motoring, motoring, everywhere The babies in motoring carriages go, ‘The kids soon will coast on the silvery snow In automobiles up steep automoslides In wildly hilarious automorides Our dancers are dancing gay automojigs, Our doctors drive round in their automo- And those who would perch on fame's highest bars Now hitch up their wagons to a stars. ‘The farmer is smiling his harvest to gain When loading his hay on his automo- wain, scarring the earth with his automo- plow, milking his gasoline automocow ; sending the choreman with automo- legs gather cach morn the fresh automo- eggs. "Neath the automohens in the automo- coop, To the tune of the rooster’s shrill auto- mowhoop, While he who plays golf will rejoice at the call Of the automocaddy who chases his ball. ‘The automocame! will soon lead the van From Automosheba to Automodan, And down in the kitchen, by hook or by crook, Some day we'll rejoice in an automo- cook Who more than a week in the household will stop To joy in the jests of the automocop. Yes, it's motors by day and it’s motors by night; Wherever we look there's a motor in sight. All over the land they are quite the fromage And every old barn has become a garage! —H. D. Gestitt, in Success But LIFE comes to you every week. That is, if you happen to be a regular subscriber. Better Obey that Impulse, in case you are not. Specials This year LIFE will continue on its scintillating career with a cumulative concatenation of special numbers that will dazzle the eye and charm the mind. To miss a single number will be a calamity. It would amount almost to a scandal in any wel regulated family. One of the beauties of LIFE is its beauty. And then its tone. A gentleman is known by the LIFES he keeps. A Premium On receipt of five dollars, we will joyfully enter your name on that bright galaxy of intellectual altitudinosity—namely, LIFE'S Subscription List, and, in addition, send you a photo-gravure reproduction of Playing Bridge by Balfour Ker, as a premium. Just a stream of sunshine Lighting all your way, Just a solid year of cheer— Send that five today. LIFE, 17 1 31st Street, New You Subscription $5.00. Canadian, $5.52 Foreign $6.04 Three Lives, by Gertrude Stein Latest Books Grafton Press. $1.50.) A Wave of Life, by Clyde Fitch. Tories of Chippeny Hill, Connecticut, Gitienan Kemiate eees by E. LeRoy Pond. (Grafton Press Men, the Workers, by Henry Demarest $1.00.) Lloyd. (Doubleday, Page & Co.) The Guest at the Gate, by Faith Me Roger Williams, ‘by Edward J. Car- Thomas. (R. G. Badger. $1.50.) penter., (The Grafton Press. $2.00.) Why Not Now? by Charles Gilbert Davis, M.D. (R. G. Badger. $1.00.) The Shepherd Who Did Not Go to Makes ei Bink cocktail Aids Bethlehem, by S. Alice Ranlett. (R. G leasing aromatic for all wine, spirit and sod Beverages, "A. Gelighttul tonic and. Invigor: Badger. $1.00.) ater, At wine merchants’ and druggists’. Important to see that it is Abbott's, Changing Voices, by R. D. Brodie (R. G. Badger. $1.00.) comicbooks.com