Life — February 19, 1914 — page 3: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Magic Flight of Thought" This page contains an advertisement for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company disguised as editorial content. The illustration depicts a figure fleeing from what appears to be a mythological creature under moonlight. The accompanying text references Norse mythology—Thor, Loki, and other gods—as an extended metaphor. It argues that while ancient myths celebrated magical thought transmission by gods, the Bell Telephone System now accomplishes this "magic" for ordinary people through modern technology. The piece celebrates how telephone lines enable instantaneous communication across vast distances—up to 25,000,000 times daily. This is corporate propaganda promoting telephone service adoption by framing telecommunications as democratizing ancient magical powers into practical daily experience for all Americans.