Life, 1913-07-10 · page 40 of 44
Life — July 10, 1913 — page 40: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising with minimal editorial content**. The main cartoon shows a car stopped at a road sign, with the caption joking about getting "something definite to go by"—a simple visual gag about unclear directions. The accompanying poem, "A Ballad Up-to-Date," satirizes **modernist art movements** (Cubism, geometric abstraction) popular in early 20th-century art clubs. The speaker flees an art exhibition in embarrassment, unable to appreciate nude figures rendered as "pale triangles" and "weird rectangles." This reflects contemporary mockery of avant-garde art as incomprehensible pretension. The page is dominated by **period advertisements**: Gibson's whiskey (notably published during Prohibition's approach), Kelly-Springfield automobile tires, Cortes cigars, Gilbert vests, and a Rad-Bridge card game accessory. A philosophical quote defines "expensiveness" as requiring others' labor—somewhat incongruous among commercial pitches. The small illustration labeled "Homesteading His Claim" appears unrelated to surrounding content—its meaning is **unclear from context**.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
YEEK AT THAT ROAD SIGN AND THEN W GET SOMETHING DEFI- NITE TO CO 1 A Ballad Up-to-Date At the Art Club, O my Darling, Where the lights are dim and low And the jurists and Cubists Fill you with an unknown woc— GILBERT Vest-Pocket Silke Hat Where the nudes are pale triangles Goo-goo-cyed Geometry ; Ears and limbs in weird rectangles And the colors fierce to seo— At the Art Club, O my Darling, Think not bitterly of me That I passed in stricken silence LDF AT, AT for. Motoring. Golfing, Traveling, Baa Weight one ounce. ‘of bes: Oiled sik From that grewsome scenery— geal saree eounce, k. Navy, ne vel Check, Blac! Brown, Iiehé Grey, Brice 3.0, ‘Stateatie, Also Boy's and Gis h hats, f¢ -hand and bows! Gas 3 for i O adie or Hat, wi rim and fuller Belts to match, tisfact | GHBERT & C COMPANY, ALL SIZES For my heart was throbbing strangely And my brain gone all astray; It was best, far best, my Darling That I made my getaway. York Evening Sun. FOR _g MEN 1GA ARS Broap: By the way, old man, do you remember borrowing ten shillings from me six months ago? Suort: Yes. Broap: But you said you only wanted it for a short time. Suort: And I told you the truth, I didn’t keep it twenty minates —Tit-Bits. “MADE AT al GARS Automobile Tires If the rubber composition in Kelly-Springfield Tires he result, of seventeen ears’ experience, and if each individual tire wasn't strictly made, then the Kelly: Springtield age average would be luck. “As it is, however, something else. KELLY-SPRINGFIELD TIRE COMPANY, Cor. Bway. and 57th St., N. Y. Branch offices ia New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, St. Louis, Detroit, Cincinnati, San Francisco, Les Angeles, Cleveland, Baltimore, Seattle, Ailanta, Akron, O., Buffalo. Bis Hep Ta & Rebber Co Columbo, 1 Beriag Tie and Robber Co. Houton, Texas Rubber Co., Rubber Co., New Haven, Aton Tie & Supely Co.. Juckscaville, Fl Franke & Co. irleston, 2, Kes hes he Co., Limited, Toroato, Can. What Is Expensiveness ? The things which this life best enjoys are not expensive, for the simple reason that they are not to be had vicariously. pensiveness means getting other peo- ple to endure trouble for us; and in natural selection individual organisms find it a profitable trick—The Ascend- ing Effort, by George Broune. (London —Constable & Company.) LEAGUE GAMES. HOMESTEADING HIS CLAIM comicbooks.com