Life, 1912-12-26 · page 23 of 41
Life — December 26, 1912 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The page contains two distinct satirical elements: **Top image ("Seeds of Rebellion"):** A political cartoon showing a woman posting a suffrage sign reading "Women Demand Your Rights Now Is the Time to Act" near a town hall. A man sits passively nearby, apparently indifferent. This references the women's suffrage movement, mocking male complacency toward women's political demands. **Bottom cartoon ("Lords and Ladies of Creation"):** Three figures in fashionable dress are captioned "What a Piece of Work Is Man!"—a Shakespeare quote. This appears to satirize the pretension of the wealthy or fashionable classes, using ironic praise to mock their self-importance. **Text section:** Reviews John Galsworthy's works ("The Pigeon" and "The Inn of Tranquility"), discussing how his literature frustrates both political reactionaries and reformers by presenting nuanced human experience rather than ideological formulas. The reviewer argues his writing offers spiritual and emotional value beyond political debate. Together, the page juxtaposes political activism with literary sophistication as responses to social questions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
is wrong, and that only he has the formula for righting it. But woe to the man who sees ever so dimly and makes others see ever so momentarily that as life is alive and formule are formulations, they do not and never will quite fit each other. And since this is what, in its delicious linking of disconcertions, “ The Pigeon” tricks us into recognizing, it is small won- der that to the outraged dogmatists of both camps Mr. Galsworthy has become as a small boy’s finger dipped in aloes. They cannot keep him out of their mouths, but he is bitter to their tongues. But do not let us take these bicker- ings too seriously. They adorn the teviews, but they have nothing to do with reading Mr. Galsworthy. Un- less you happen to be a rabid re- actionary, a reformatory fanatic or SEEDS OF REBELLION an analytical critic, you will find your- self enjoying the descriptions, discus- sions, reminiscences and self-commun- ings gathered into “ The Inn of Tran- quillity” (Scribners, $1.30), with never a suspicion that you are hobnobbing with a hobgoblin. Indeed so exquisite is the artistry of some of these little papers, and so intimately familiar to our own lives are the emotions, to us inexpressible, that are here so per- fectly expressed, that we even find ourselves, for a few moments at a time, forgetting the formule by which we think we live in a realization of the impulses that guide our lives. And reactionaries, reformers and critics to the contrary notwithstanding, this is a sort of air bath for the soul that ought to be included in every system of spiritual hygiene. J. B. Kerfoot. 2 » 5 >. Car a CTR ee ex aa J oat \ ee? LORDS AND LADIES OF CREATION WHAT A PIECE OF WoRK IS MAN! comicbooks.com