Life, 1913-11-06 · page 15 of 56
Life — November 6, 1913 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three separate satirical pieces: **"Thanksgiving" Poem (R.B.)**: A tongue-in-cheek gratitude list where the speaker counts blessings by listing misfortunes—lost money, repossessed car, divorce, and fair-weather friends—yet insists each loss is actually liberating. The satire critiques materialism and social pretense by suggesting financial ruin and social dissolution are preferable to their false comforts. **"Leap Year in the Stone Age"**: A single-panel cartoon showing cavemen, with a dialogue joke about a wife's new dress with strategic cuts that might cause it to disappear if unbuttoned—a mild double entendre about scanty clothing. **"The Turkey Was Tough"**: A courtroom scene where a character confesses to stealing a banana, with heavy dialect spelling suggesting working-class speech. The absurdist humor contrasts the formal legal setting with a trivial crime confession. The page exemplifies early 20th-century Life magazine's mix of social commentary and light humor targeting contemporary consumer culture and class distinctions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Thanksgiving ‘OU bet I am thankful; Things might have been worse. I’ve lost all my money, But it was a curse. A creditor rides In my big motor car; But I shall be better Without it, by far. My wife has divorced me, But why weep aloud? Its years since I’ve seen her, Except in a crowd. My friends are near-sighted (To give them tue doubt), But friends of that kind LEAP YEAR IN THE STONE AGE One is better without. ALONEY: 'Tis some foine new-style driss yure woife has got. Casey: Yez bet. Shure, wid the cut up the back and the cut down the front, not to mintion the high jabs on the sides, faith, Oi'm afraid if she un- buttons it the dom thing will disappear entirely. I'm starting all over; I've left the old set. And now that I’ve left it, I'm thankful, you bet. For when I come back— And I mean to some day— I'll know how to live In a sensible way. cn | Mena “SERGEANT, IT WUZ ME WOT SWIPED DAT BANANA ON DE NIGHT OF DE “THE TURKEY WAS TOUCH” TWENTY-FOIST, AN’ I'VE COME TO GIVE MESELF UP.” comicbooks.com