Life, 1910-08-04 · page 20 of 44
Life — August 4, 1910 — page 20: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**"Gulliver and the Lilliputians"** is a marital satire using Swift's literary reference as its title. A husband, flattered by an attractive woman at dinner while his wife appears dull, grows attentive to the stranger. He later discovers the woman was actually flattering young Swift (a dinner guest), not himself. His wife's gracious response ("you dear, old, genuine darling") suggests marital wisdom—she understands male vanity and chooses not to compete, securing her position through acceptance rather than jealousy. The satire targets masculine ego and the superficiality of romantic attention. **"Congress"** is a political Q&A mocking the Republican-controlled Congress for adjourning without substantively fulfilling campaign promises. The joke: Congress spent six months avoiding redemption of pledges it deemed unimportant, yet feared the public might think otherwise. The satire critiques political cowardice and the gap between campaign rhetoric and legislative action. The **baseball term illustration** ("A Fowl Rawl") appears decorative, unrelated to surrounding content.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SOME SEASIDE ARCHITECTURE Gulliver and the Lilliputians had been ruffled on their way to dinner by his wife's areless raillery upon his obtuseness. Now, as his handsome, heavy eyes brooded on his plate, he failed to notice the quick appraising glances of his table neighbor. Before the soup was removed, however, he had responded to the charm of her address. She termed him “ subtle dividual,’’ and begged for his “ real" opinion upon a subject made vital by a play of eyelash and of color. The “ set fair’ of the masculine barometer was shown by his caressing of his moustache. Later, as she mournfully shrugged her white shoulders over her bility to comprehend such men as he, he could not forbear looking across at his wife, with a returning glim- mer of the patronage of their early married days. As he looked, his table neighbor bit a dainty yawn in half. . . . When the pale frocks of the women had vanished like a melting rainbow through the door he found the chatter of young Swift, beside him, insufferably dull, and brooded silently over the misfits of married life until he could rejoin his charmer. But, in the drawing-room, he looked for her in vain, and cursed the friendly arm of his host, which had stayed him before his latest hall-hung tapestries. As he stood moodily aloof his wife approached him “Get me out of the room, I’m feeling rather faint,’ she said hurriedly, an insistent hand upon him arm. A moment later they had reached the con- servatory, and she had drooped into a chair “Let me be perfectly quiet for a few minutes— that's all I need,"’ she whispered. Their silent arrival had not disturbe i a couple upon the further side of a group of palms. Young Swift's fatuous tones came to them distinctly, followed by a woman's mellow note. “You are too subtle for poor me. I admi 1 understand most men—they are primers— you are writ in cypher. Beneath her eyelids his wife looked at him . 8 ° “What a charming woman—your table BASEBALL TERM “A FOWL RAWI.”” neighbor, I mean,"" wife said, driving home. Her frank smile disurmed his gathering suspicion, He shrugged elaborately. “ Young tools—like Swift—may admire her; all they want is flattery.”* His wife slipped her hand into his. “Is she t'.at kind? No wonder she didn’t make a hit with you, then-—you dear, old, genuine darling.” Key Cammack. Congress, S the Congress! Yes, it is a very, very nice Congress. What is the Con gress doing? The Congress is adjourning Why does the Congress adjourn? Because of the hot weather. Has it done anything except to atjourn? Oh, yes, indeed! It has redeemed all the pledges of the Republican party How do you know that it has? By reading the New York Tribune. Tribune, it's Republican, Did it take Congress long to do so much? It was not much, but, such as it was, it did not take long Then Congress was in session a very short time Oh, no; it in session a very long time. six months. What was it doing all that time? It was trying to find a way to avoid redeeming the pledges of the Republican platform. Were the pledges of the Republican platform important? By no means. Then why did Congress dislike to redeem them? Pecause Congress feared they might be im- portant, Did the public want the pledges redeemed? Yes, the public thought the pledges were mportant and so the public wanted them re- deemed. Is it then fair to assume that the public is well satisfied ? Oh, yes, with the exception of the high cost of living and a few other minor matters, the public is very well satisfied. If you see it in the more than ts O. Jones. comicbooks.com