Life, 1910-03-10 · page 13 of 36
Life — March 10, 1910 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine contains two distinct elements: **Top Section:** An illustrated story titled "MANIA ELEPHANTICIDIA" featuring a narrative about a girl and her elephants. The sketch shows a colonial or exotic setting with boats and hunting scenes. The story involves a character named Satan and concerns over a valuable book. This appears to be satirical fiction rather than political commentary. **Bottom Section:** A cartoon titled "A SUGGESTION TO THE THEATRICAL TRUST—HOW TO ECONOMIZE SPACE" depicts crowded theater performers packed tightly together. This satirizes the "Theatrical Trust" (likely the dominant theater monopoly of the era) by suggesting absurdly cramped staging to save money—mocking corporate greed and poor working conditions for actors. The article "Our Limitations" critiques American overconfidence in predictions and planning.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
MANIA ELEPHANTICIDIA climate. Then so cleverly did she present her case that he gradually conceded every point. “And now,” said the girl as they reached her home, “if you will wait in the drawing room I will get the articles you have just purchase “Have you not got it with you?" asked Satan in surprise “Oh, dear me, no. There's no place for them. Our cor- setiéres wouldn't hear of having a growing soul about. It would be so lumpy. Anyway, they're as obsolete as pockets. Excuse me one moment while I get it.” She left the room and returned presently with a book which she held out to him. “I pinned it between the leaves of this before I went to church this afternoon,’ she said. Satan drew back a little. He feared that it was a holy volume and might freeze his fingers. “Oh, do not be afraid,”” she urged encouragingly. a tremendously risqué French novel.”” “Tr is A SUGGESTION TO. THE THEATRICAL TRUST HOW TO ECONOMIZE SPACE “Sold! "? cried Satan bitterly. “I've been fooled by a chit of a girl as young as a spring chicken and apparently as innocent as the first wildflower, and have paid an exorbi- tant price for what was clearly already my own.” Mrs. Wilson Woodrow. Our Limitations HIS is an anticipative age. We eat, or rather munch, pre- digested foods; read the night editions of our papers at noon; propose babies in the cradle for membership in our clubs; have our life insurance policies mature while we are alive and hearty. We devise methods of pre-natal culture that should people our land with prodigies; by ar improved system of wills we control the destinies of many generations yet to be; and we decide for all time what shall be classic in literature and art. We put into type the obituary notices of men and women still in their prime; we buy and sell crops before they are planted, and pay dividends on mines that have not yet yielded enough metal for an assay. By psychotherapy we cure people before they have ailments; 2nd with the aid of devoted mediums peep behind screens and through trap doors into eternity. We have developed so much wisdom, such fatidical foresight, that we have come to speak almost patron- izingly of posterity Yet our failures have been as pronounced as our triumphs. Our utter and unaccountable successlessness in predicting next year’s styles in cither fiction, warships, psychology or women’s headgear, and our hopeless inability to forecast to-morrow’s meteorological performances should certainly modify our blustering. Nor should we forget the ideal tariff that we promised ourselves and the Brobdingnagian lemon that was handed us. comicbooks.com