Life, 1914-01-15 · page 36 of 40
Life — January 15, 1914 — page 36: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains **book and product reviews** rather than political cartoons. The main content is a rhymed book review by Arthur Guiterman of H.G. Wells' *The Passionate Friends*, a novel about a woman (Mary) torn between two men—her true love Stephen Stratton and a wealthy husband (Justin)—ultimately ending in her suicide. Guiterman satirizes the story's implicit endorsement of "free-love" philosophy, arguing Mary had agency and made a poor choice. Below are advertisements for *Sexology* (a guide to marital relations), an International School of Drawing, and Kelly-Springfield Automobile Tires. The page concludes with a brief satire on **Futurism**—the avant-garde artistic movement—mocking founder Marinetti's pretentious claim that doctors and lawyers are "pests." The critic notes that stating obvious facts in plain language undermines Futurism's reputation for obscure intellectualism. The satire targets **intellectual pretension**: both sexual progressivism and modernist art movements are gently mocked for claiming depth they don't possess.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Rhymed Reviews The Passionate Friends (By H. G. Wells. Harper & Bros.) O Common Persons, rushed and shoved Like us in turbulent Manhattan, Could love as Lady Mary loved Her early playmate, Stephen Strat- ton, But though her Steve, as Mary saw, Was filled with passion inexpressive, She would not be a poor man’s “ squaw Besides, his love was too—possessive. And so she planned “to own herself” As wife-in-name to Mr. Justin, A bullet-headed man of pelf— The kind that princes put their trust in, Now Stephen, having chased De Wet A Happy Marriage And bled in Ladysmith's defences, Depends largely on “ame s _ nowledge of the whole one Ait soi and Mary met truth about elf pe ex lamentable consequences, / Sand their relation to life ‘With: lamentable‘e eque and health. This knowl- edge does not. come in- ay - telligently of itself, nor To soothe the injured husband’s rage . correctly from ordinary, They bundled Stephen off; he tarried every-day: sources: Abroad five years that seemed an age, SEXOLOGY And then returned, reformed, and wa ae a ie by William H. Walling, ., imparts in a clear married. wholesome. way In one volune Still Mary would not let him be. wiedge a Hu: They met, by chance—discretion Gartions =! yecee Woeen shui Hav fenced th Khowledee « Young Wife Should I enced them— Knowledge a Mother Should Hav Me 1 ‘Dausbe Just friends as anyone might sce, aE 2 8 Mother fuoulg impart to Her Daughter. Yet circumstances looked against All in one volume. Illustrated, 32. ‘postpaid. them; Write for “Other Peepie's Opinions” and Table of Contents. Puritan Pub. Co. 776 Perry Bldg., Phila, Pa. And wrathful Justin vowed divorce Should be his means of getting even, Which wasn’t very nice, of course, SE M Castors, cattatine, ‘and illustrating taughtin Book form. For Mary, Stephen's wife, nor FA Pics aaah Foren 100 Stephen, Ra ear a “How to! “De 3100. INTERNATIONAL “SCHOOL” OF DRAWING, Bon 232, Gs Weshlagton, D.C. Kelly-Springfield Automobile Tires Much as we want your patronage, we don't want it under misapprehensions. Kelly-Springfield Tires and Tubes are not impervious, They merely contain all} the excellence that real rubber, hand-made according to the longest experience in the field, can give them. Isn't that fair enough? KELLY-SPRINGFIELD ) TIRE COMPANY 7 Cor. B’way & 57th St., N.Y. The Hearn Tire & Rubber a ‘ uston, Texas So Mary, having vainly tried To give her husband satisfaction, Dissolved the knot by suicide, Poor thing!—her one unselfish ac tion, - In closing, Stephen Stratton, who So ably tells the story, mentions That all this waste and woe was due To Jealousy and False Conventions Yet must I lift a timid voice Against his free-love cant ;—I take it That Mary had an open choice And made her bargain just to break it, Arthur Guiterman. Ruin to a Reputation “Doctors and lawyers have be- come an intolerable pest in social life, like rabbits in Australia.” Marinetti, founder of the Futurist School. UTURISM is supposed by many to be a vague meaningless doc- trine, impossible for the ordinary mind to understand. Such statements as appear above, therefore, are likely to ruin it as a propaganda. To state a fact which everybody who knows any- thing knows, in such simple language that anyone can understand it, is bad business from the standpoint of a new cult, If this keeps up, Futurism will not have any reputation left. comichoo!