Life, 1913-04-03 · page 48 of 52
Life — April 3, 1913 — page 48: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising**, not satire. The main content includes three product advertisements: 1. **Dependo Gasoline Gauge** ($7.50) — a dashboard fuel meter for early automobiles (1912-1913 models), solving the problem of drivers running out of gas unexpectedly. This was a genuine innovation for the era. 2. **Cortez Cigars** — a simple product plug for Key West cigars. 3. **Hoover Electric Cleaner** — promoting an electric floor cleaning device. The lengthy text column discussing "merry drolls," jesters, and April Fools' Day appears to be editorial content, not related to the advertisements. It's a philosophical essay about why people enjoy foolishness and pranks. **For modern readers:** This shows how early 1900s automobiles lacked basic fuel gauges—drivers literally couldn't see how much gas remained. The Dependo gauge was a practical solution to a real problem that seems absurd today.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
AT LAST!! A Gasoline Gauge for autcmcbiles that is accurate and dependable — up hill, down hill, on side list, and on the hottest and coldest days. Shows at a glance the amount of gasoline in the tank. Pepends, $7.50 Brass or Nickel Gasoline Gauge Finish (ttaches to the Dash) SOME OF ITS MANY ADVANTAGES No more Dry Tanks miles from Garage. Detects Leaky Tanks immediately. No more pulling up cushions to run Shows instantly amount of gasohne that goes measuring stick into tank ‘As dependable as your watch and will not get out of order Full directions for tnstalling sent wtth each gauge. into tank and amount being consumed per mile, ‘Supplied at present for the 1912 and 1913 Ford, Overland, Buick, E.M.F., and the 1913 Studebaker. WHEN WRITING, STATE MODEL If for other cars, send us name, model and year, and we will notify you if we ean supply you. Not made at present for cars having pressure tanks. If your dealer canoot supply you, we will, direct, on receipt of price. Catalog No. 3 giving full particuars, s:nt free. C. F. ROPER & CO., Hopedale, Mass. in a most ijmmoderate manner. This is a standing jest at Amsterdam. Thus every one diverts himself with some person or other that is below him in point of understanding, and triumphs in the superiority of his genius, whilst he has such objects of derision before his eyes. Mr. Dennis has very well ex- pressed this in a couple of humorous lines which are part of a translation of a satire by Monsieur Boileau: Thus one fool lolls his tongue out at another And shakes his empty noddle at his brother. Mr. Hobbes’s reflection gives us the reason why the insignificant people above mentioned are stirrers up of laugh- ter among men of a gross taste; but as the more understanding part of man- kind do not find their risibility affected by such ordinary objects, it may be worth the while to examine into the sev- eral provocatives of laughter, in men of superior sense and knowledge. In the first place, I must observe that there is a set of merry drolls whom the OF BRAINS IGARS =MADE AT KEY WEST— FOR _g MEN common people of all countries admirc and scem to love so well “that they could cat them,” according to the old Proverb. I mean those circumforancous wits whom every nation calls by the name of that dish of meat which it loves best; in Holland they are termed Pickled Herrings; in France, Jean Potages; in Italy, Macaronies, and in Great Britain, Jack Puddings. These merry from whatsoever food they receive their titles, that they may make their audiences laugh, always appear in a fool’s coat, and commit such blunders and mistakes in every step they take, and every word they utter, as those who listen to them would be ashamed of. But this little triumph of the under- standing, under the disguise of laughter, is nowhere more visible than in that custom which prevails everywhere among us on the first day of the present month, when everybody takes it into his head to make as many fools as he can, In Proportion as there are more follies dis- covered, so there is more laughter raised on this day than on any other in the whole year. A neighbor of mine, who is a haberdasher by trade, and a very shal- low, conceited fellow, makes his boast that for these ten years successively he has not made less than a hundred April fools. My landlady had a falling out IT Shakes, Sweeps and suction cleans floor coverings automatically and by electricity. "The best endorsed product made in America— ask us for Proof.” ts the only cleaner that restores the culo to floor coverings ant removes all kinds of dirt. cleaning day a ind every woman \e. Write for our booklet How to Keep Clean.” ‘The Hoover Suction Sweeper Co. Exerywhere and New Berlin, © JUST PUBLISHED Sir Gilbert Parker’s New Novel THE JUDGMENT HOUSE Undoubtedly the author's best book, surpassing in in- terest even “The Weavers” and “The Right of Way.” It is a story of international interest—its sympathies as wide as the empire. The destinies of nations are inter- coor woven with the lives of the two heroes—one a millionaire, a pioneer of the Cecit Rhodes type ; the other a diplomat, with his finger cn the pulse of the world. And the woman, like Cleopatra, influences ight, 1913, by Harper & Brothers, the careers of empire-builders by her beauty and her cleverness. Illustrated $1.35 Net HARPER & BROTHERS Grinne sense gloved golfing under comicbooks.com