Life, 1914-08-27 · page 18 of 44
Life — August 27, 1914 — page 18: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains satirical commentary on two topics: **"A Long-suffering Lady"** critiques a recurring joke trope in American periodicals—the "baseball grandmother" who gets buried as a punchline. The article mocks this worn-out joke, arguing the elderly grandmother character has appeared so repeatedly in the press for years that she deserves to be "permanently buried" (retired from use). The complaint suggests office workers repeatedly recycle this stale humor for cheap laughs. **"Good Pieces"** offers backhanded praise for the *Sun* newspaper's war editorials about Europe, suggesting the paper's existence has needed justification lately—implying its quality or relevance had been questionable until recently. The Cupid cartoon at bottom presents a separate romantic mishap: a boat operator apologizing that his canoe cannot accommodate a couple, subverting the typical cupid-enables-romance trope with practical logistics.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“Geel 1 WISHT I WAS A PIG” A Long-suffering Lady “Cause I'm savin’ up me grandmother for one of the decidin’ games in the fall."—From the tail-end of a joke in the esteemed Boston Transcript. Is it not time that the baseball grandmother should be permanently buried? Has she not had her innings? This gentle old lady, for many years now in the period- ical press, has spent her summer days—when she ought to have been resting—in getting buried generally for the ignoble pleasure of some whistling office-boy. It is time that she should be left to dwell in peace among the im- mortals, Good Pieces 'HE editorials in the Sun on the war in Europe have gone far to justify the existence of that paper. And at times of late the existence of the Sun has seemed con- siderably to need justification, Cupid: 1'M sorry, MA’AM; THIS CANOE WON’T HOLD THEE