Life, 1911-05-18 · page 14 of 42
Life — May 18, 1911 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains several distinct satirical items: **"Caruso and His Voice"** references the famous opera singer Enrico Caruso, apparently discussing whether he might recover his voice through religious intervention (St. Januarius). The piece debates whether "miracles" are genuinely supernatural or simply phenomena we don't yet understand scientifically—a skeptical take on religious claims. **"She Stopt Among the Untrodden Ways"** parodies Wordsworth's Romantic poem, replacing his idealized nature subject with a broken-down automobile. The joke: a car abandoned by the roadside, whose absence of gas creates emotional loss—mocking both sentimental poetry and early automotive culture's frequent mechanical failures. **The cartoon dialogue** at bottom depicts two men discussing unloading "rotten stock on Jones," revealing they're counting on exploiting him despite claiming friendship—satirizing dishonest business practices and false camaraderie in commercial dealings. The **"Disappointed Aviator"** sketch (upper left) appears unrelated, possibly from another article.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Disappointed Aviator: wwat THE DEVIL ARE YOU LAUGHING aT? Caruso and His Voice Caruso won't get anv miracle. The time for that has gone by.—New York Evening Journal. UT St. Januarius will get Caruso’s silver head (which he will hardly value much) and Caruso, as Brother Brisbane says, may get his voice back if he is willing.to stand the necessary self-denial. But we doubt if the time for miracles has gone by. Miracles are occurrences, the means of which are not understood and which are therefore supposed to happen by suspension of natural laws. The better opinion may be that the: happen by fulfillment of laws and appli- cation of forces that we are not on to yet. We know a good deal compared with what our knew, but mighty little compared with what there is to know. There arc more miracles coming than have been, but to those who work them they won't be miracles, but just common wonders worked by knowl- edge. Every miracle invites inquiry How did it happen? Of course bogus miracles are bogus But a real miracle is entirely conceiva ble—a cure or an occurrence, that is, that we don’t yet know enough to un- derstand. forebears Ww shall sce presently by how much Los Angeles excels Viterbo in the administration of j THE CONSOLATION OF RELIGION “She Stopt Among the Un- trodden Ways” HE stopt among the untrodden ways, Beside the springs of Dove, A car, which there were none to praise, And very few to shove. An auto by a mossy stone, Half hidden from the eye, as a star, when only one Is shiny in the sky. She stood alone and few could know When motion ceased to be; But gasoline was gone and oh, The difference to me! Roscoe Gilmore Stott “TY THINK WE CAN UNLOAD THAT ROT- TEN STOCK ON JONES.” “1 THOUGHT HE WAS AN FRIEND OF YouRS?” “YM COUNTING ON THAT!” INTIMATE, comicbooks.com