Life, 1911-05-04 · page 15 of 56
Life — May 4, 1911 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains several distinct satirical pieces typical of early Life magazine: **"Practical" Poem**: A nostalgic lament about industrialization. The poet recalls loving natural landscapes—meadows, hills, groves, brooks, and sky—but each has been destroyed by urban development (factories, roads, lumber yards, mills, and advertising signs). The Baldwin Soap ad sign is the final insult, commercializing even the sky. This reflects progressive-era anxieties about unchecked industrial expansion destroying rural America. **Two cartoon illustrations** show furniture appearing awkward when moved between apartments and suburban houses—visual humor about the mismatch between furnishings and living spaces. **"An Invitation" and other humor sections** offer light satirical advice about summer behavior, servants, and manners—poking fun at upper-middle-class pretensions and hypocrisy (kissing your wife occasionally "to keep peace," treating servants poorly). The overall tone critiques both industrial progress's environmental costs and the affectations of polite society.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
875 Directions mt it i i THE WAY YOUR FURNITURE LOOKS WHEN YOU MOVE FROM A FLAT TO A MOUSE IN TIE Practical LOVED a meadew, shining fair and sweet, The clover’s country and the lark’s retreat; But pick and shovel laid my meadow bare, And now a collar factory is there. I loved a hill, my outlook high, serene, Where broadening spirit met the expanding scene; But now my hill, remorselessly torn down, Lies level in the roadways of a town, I loved a grove, a quiet, holy place, Whose breath was peace and every leaf a grace; But now my grove, the home of seer and bard, Gluts the gaunt bareness of a lumber-yard. I loved a brook, whose murmuring currents ran To woodland shrines inviolate of man; But now my brook, with tamed and tortured will, Turns the dull grinding of a weary mill. 1 loved, the last of all, a glimpse of sky, With bird-wings and the cloud-wisps floating by; But now across my bit of heavenly scope Behold a kite-borne sign, “ Use Baldwin Soap"! Amos R. Wells. An Invitation ILTER (at servants’ agency): Have you got a cook who will go to the country? Manacer (calling out to girls in next room): Is there any- one here who would like to spend a day in the country? I England had a system of pensions like ours, we should sce that “all that was left of the Noble Six Hundred” was six thousand pensioners. To Those About to Go Away for the Summer ONTRIBUTE a your clerg fund. Turn the cat out in the strect to shift for himself. Cat well as people, should learn to be self-reliant. Make plans to hold over all your tradesman’s bills until you return in the fall, Tradesmen are not supposed to exist during the summer. Let your children order their own wardrobes. They will have what they want anyway, and this direct method saves wear and tear, Manners BE sciendly 10 the resident of ‘the woman's club, whom you may meet by chance, and don't let her suspect that there is anything between you. Kiss your wife occasionally in your own home, merely to show her that you are ready to do almost anything to keep peace. But do not kiss other ladies in your wife's presence. Be cordial and sympathetic with them, but reserve anything like that for a future op- . If you are run over by a millionaire, do not show chagrin; it is only by repressing your emotions that you can learn to be truly polite. liberal amount European to an's trip SUByERBS portani WHEN YOU MOVE FROM A MOUSE IN THE SUBURBS BACK TO 4 FLAT comicbooks.com