Life, 1913-08-21 · page 15 of 40
Life — August 21, 1913 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page presents humorous safety advice titled "Don'ts for the Reckless," offering absurdist warnings against obviously dangerous activities: falling from airplanes, antagonizing dogs and gunmen, colliding automobiles with trains, and turkey trotting in canoes. The dramatic black-and-white illustration at top appears to depict divine or cosmic creation—possibly referencing Michelangelo's famous painting—establishing an ironic contrast with the mundane safety tips below. The cartoon at bottom shows a figure recognizing what a poet meant by "the lowering kine," likely referencing agricultural imagery or classical allusion, though the specific literary reference is unclear without additional context. The satire's point: mocking reckless behavior through exaggerated, obviously absurd warnings—satirizing both human carelessness and the era's emerging safety-conscious culture (automobiles, airplanes were still novel, dangerous technologies). The tone is lighthearted ridicule of poor judgment.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Don'ts for the Reckless D°xt fall out of too many aero- planes, even to please the chil- dren. Remember that the pitcher which goes to the well too often is broken at last. We trust our readers know how to be wiser than a pitcher. Don’t adopt too brusque an attitude toward strange dogs, gunmen, circular saws and the like. All of these are more or less unreliable. If patience is ever a virtue, it surely is in these cases. THE LORD OF CREATION Don’t Iet your automobile, while going at a high rate of speed, collide with a railroad train. It doesn't mat- ter whether the train is at rest or making up time on a straight track. There are devices which claim to ab- sorb shocks of this kind, but we have not found them satisfactory. Der’: turkey trot in canoes or row- boats. The equilibrium of these craft is so unstable as to render them some- what hazardous for even milder forms of exercise than turkey trotting. E.0. J. “on! Now 1 KNOW WHAT THE POET MEANT BY ‘THE LOWERING KINE