Life, 1914-07-09 · page 34 of 40
Life — July 9, 1914 — page 34: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains primarily **advertising and poetry**, not political satire. The **Ideal Power Lawn Mower advertisement** (top left) promotes a motorized mower priced at $375—a luxury item for the era. It emphasizes labor-saving convenience for middle-class homeowners, capitalizing on the automobile industry's innovations. The **cartoon captioned "Great Heavens, Child!"** (top right) shows two horses with exaggerated ears, depicting a parent's humorous complaint that offspring inherited undesirable traits from the other parent's side of the family—a genteel domestic joke about heredity. **"Don't All Speak at Once"** (bottom left) appears to be a caption or section header with decorative imagery, context unclear from this excerpt. **"The Road to Vagabondia"** (right side) is a sentimental poem by F. Dana Burnet celebrating wanderlust and companionship with a stray dog—romanticizing vagabond life and freedom from societal constraints. This reflects early 20th-century literary interest in escape from urban/industrial life.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
$375.00 that no one thought of such a lawn mower as this before. Olds, the f utomobile designer, invented and per- ower Lawn Mower, and it will do for you what it i lawn-mowing. tis The ‘leanly around fower beds, walks, and under SS sod terraces with case. It role the tart as well golf courses and “GREAT HEAVENS, CHILD! YOU NEVER GOT THOSE EARS 408 Kalamazoo St., Lansing, Mich. FROM MY SIDE OF THE HOUSE” Faster Canadian Agents! Reo Sales Co., St. Catharines, Ont. Conadisn Price, $486, F. O. B. Cars, Lansing, Mkh., Duty Paid The Road to Vagabondia E WAS sittin’ on a doorstep, As I went strollin’ by; A lonely little beggar With a wistful, ‘omesick eye— An’ 'e weren't the kind you'd borrow, An’ ’e weren't the kind you'd steal, But I guessed ‘is ‘eart was breakin’, So I wiistled 'im to eel. They ’ad stoned ’im through the city streets, and naught the city cared, But I was ’eadin’ out’ard, and the roads are sweeter shared, So I took ’im for a comrade, and I wiistled ’im away— On the road to Vagabondia, that lies across the day! Yellow dog ’e was; but bless you— "E was just the chap for me! For I'd ruther ‘ave an inch o’ dog Than miles o’ pedigree. So we stole away together, dane On the road that ‘as no end, Ar With a new-coined day to fling away aceur And all the stars to spend! quire is Oh, to walk the road at mornin’, when the wind is blowin’ ca clean, . tures Aw’ the yellow daisies fling their gold across a world o° the n green— ourse For the wind it ’eals the ’eartaches, an’ the sun it dries the to g scars, On the road to Vagabondia that lies beneath the stars. 'Twas the Wonder o' the Going Cast a spell about our feet— An’ we walked because the world was young, Because the way was sweet; For the bound volume of Lire for the last six months of 1913, which is ready. Of course, you don’t want the loose copies scattered all over the house, where they arc likely to be read by irresponsible people. You want them permanently confined in a handsome binding. The cost is $4.00 per volume. If the loose copies are returned an allowance of $2.00 is made. The bindings.are full black, green and gold, and maroon and gold. Lire, 17 West 31st Street, New York City An’ we slept in wild-rose meadows By the little wayside farms, 'Till the Dawn came up the ‘ighroad With the dead moon in ’er arms. A Oh, the Dawn it went before us through a shinin’ lane o° skies, And the Dream was at our ’eartstrings, an’ the Light was in our eyes, An’ we made no boast of. glory an’ we made no boast o’ birth, On the road to Vagabondia that lies across the earth! F, Dana Burnet. comicbooks.com