Life, 1914-07-30 · page 37 of 40
Life — July 30, 1914 — page 37: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a **book review in verse** (left) and a **beer advertisement** (right), typical of early 20th-century Life magazine content. **The Review:** Arthur Guiterman satirizes Hugh Walpole's novel *The Duchess of Wrexe*. The poem mocks the plot's melodrama—an imperious dowager duchess manipulates her descendants' romantic lives. When the dissolute grandson is crippled in a horse accident, it conveniently prevents the heroine Rachel from eloping with her lover. Guiterman's dry summary suggests the novel is contrived ("clever tale, if somewhat slow") with heavy-handed moralizing. **The Advertisement:** Schlitz beer uses pseudo-scientific health claims typical of pre-Prohibition era marketing. It asserts that pure beer is "healthful food" while warning that light bottles allow decay. The brown bottle's opaque glass supposedly ensures purity—a genuine technical advantage presented as a moral superiority claim. Together, the page reflects 1920s American consumer culture: literature reviewed for entertainment value, commercial products marketed with dubious health assertions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Rhymed Reviews IT The Duchess of Wrexe (By Hugh Walpole. George H. Doran Co.) N spots, Her Highness Most Serene Concerning whom this tale is written, Suggests a late-lamented Queen Who seemed ‘to rule the realm of Britain. An invalid of haughty airs, She bossed her children, stern and jealous ; And people said she ran Affairs— But how, the Author doesn’t tell us. At all events she ruled her set, Despising leaders demagogic; And yet, to quote a phrase I’ve met, Her force was merely psychologic. This Duchess held in special hate Her two descendants—little wonder, For Francis wasn't always straight And Rachel wouldn’t knuckle under. The Duchess worked a crafty plan And made Miss Rachel marry Roddy, Her Grace’s only pet young man, A fairly decent sort of body. But Roddy let his fancy stray; And Rachel, acting mighty queerly, Was just about to run away With Cousin Frank, who loved her dearly, When Roddy tumbled off a horse; His lower limbs were quite disabled; So Rachel's plans for flight, of course, Were permanently quashed or tabled. and Separtment stores, oF direct for sample botle and booklet. Send 6c and your desler’s name to ‘Tue Ovorono Co., 753 Blair Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio, DO-RO-NO Tae YouET ware roe Extcsaive pesowation Schlitz Brown Bottle Insures Purity Schlitz cannot cause biliousness. It cannot cause stomach or liver trouble. Pure beer is healthful food—decayed food is not healthful. Any beer in light bottles is in danger of decay. No one who values health should risk taking tainted food into the stomach. See that Crown is branded “Schlitz”? Get S, in Brown Bottles : Orie i. Case The Beer " That Made Milwaukee Famous. The bad old Duchess thereupon But Rachel put the matter right Then, having fought a losing fight, Sat down by Roddy’s couch and The Duchess died of disappoint- hinted ment. That Frank’s and Rachel's goings-on Would make a pleasant tale if And there's your Happy Ending, printed. though There are not any other weddings.— A clever tale, if somewhat slow, And pulled that fly from Roddy’s With aptly quoted chapter headings. ointment ; Arthur Guiterman,