Life, 1910-03-03 · page 34 of 80
Life — March 3, 1910 — page 34: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains several satirical pieces mocking contemporary American quirks and beliefs: **"As a Man Thinketh"** ridicules "Mind Curists"—practitioners of New Thought, a popular early-1900s movement claiming mental power over reality. The neighbor, Mr. Medulla, supposedly "cuts his grass" through willpower alone to create summer and save on coal bills, exemplifying the movement's absurd claims. **"The One Thing Wanting"** is a humorous poem by La Touche Hancock about spring, noting that despite nature's renewal, people perpetually want something missing—suggesting human discontent is unchanging. **The Christianity section** sarcastically advises skeptics to be patient with religion, which hasn't been "put into practice" despite centuries of preaching. It mocks both clergy and doubters. **The bottom cartoon** depicts a child pointing at a bald man, with the caption satirizing Victorian propriety—the mother scolds the child for noticing such "shocking sights," highlighting society's prudish hypocrisy about natural human appearance.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“THEY TOIL NOT, NEITHER DO THEY SPIN’ couple of days, but one night the father came home and missed it, and he said, ‘Willie, where is that chameleon? And Willie said, ‘Dear me, pa, that chameleon is no more. 1 put him on the rgd and he turned red, and I put him on the green and he turned green, and I put him on the blue and he turned blue; and then, pa, I put him on a plaid—and he busted himself trying to make good.’* “Hum. Good morning, Lire. “Good morning, Mr. Presi “As a Man Thinketh” pause to chat with our friend who is painfully shovel- W ing the snow off his walk. Our attention is attracted by the strange actions of his neighbor, who is methodically pushing something back and forth over his lawn, being the while arrayed in shirt of a silken softness and thinness, a k trousers and all of that. we exclaim, “ What is this panama hat, du For the love of Heaven next door to you, a wheele “Not so bad as that,”” he laughs.“ That's my new neigh- bor, Mr. Medulla. He's one of the leading Mind Curists, and is cutting his grass now. Claims it makes summer at his house, saves coal bills, and so forth.’? H LF the world doesn’t know how the other half dodges bill collectors. The One Thing Wanting N the spring the keen Nor Urges on its wild career; In the spring the vegeta Finds hig food extreme! In the spring housecleaning does not Add much to our In the spring those awful painters Kick up a confounded mes In the spring the poets always Pour out idiotic lays! In the spring the public curses Everything the poets praise! In the spring there ever happens usual thing, wanting appiness ! Year by year the But invariably there Spring! La Touche Hancock. Re wane ae is impossible to make a great man out of two small ones. Christianity UDGING from frequent hints dropped by frank clergymen, there are a great many people with waning faith in Christianity. The cause of this is much easier to find than the remedy. It is not duc, as many believe, to the innate viciousness and diabolism of mankind; it is due chiefly to that prevalent quality of impatience which modern civilization induces. In view of this, the most pointed advice we can give to these benighted souls is to be patient. They haven't given Christianity a fair chance. It may yet be tried. And then, suppose it proves to be all that has been claimed for it! Ab! then indeed will the ministers be able to say, “I told you so,” putting a shame-face on every doubting Thomas. After talking of Christianity earnestly and often for nearly a score of centuries, it is hard to believe that we would ever finally dismiss it without putting it into practice for a few st. Surely we would not do that. Be patient, kind friends. Hold on for yet a little while. OU can him ke office, but you can't make “on, MARJORY! LOOK AT THAT MAN WITH THE NAKED HEAD! "? “YT WON'T, YOU BAD BOY TO NOTICE SUCH SHOCKING SIGHTS.” Ccomicbooks.com