Life, 1914-10-01 · page 4 of 48
Life — October 1, 1914 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main illustration depicts skeletal figures dancing around a cauldron in a witches' sabbath-like scene, likely representing death or morbid fate. The accompanying text is a subscription pitch for *Life* magazine itself, humorously suggesting that reading about grim current events is a "habit" for many people. The smaller cartoon below shows a figure skiing, captioned "I Obeyed That Impulse!" — appearing to satirize impulsive decision-making, though the specific reference is unclear. This page functions primarily as **advertising disguised as editorial content**. Rather than political satire, it's a self-promotional piece encouraging subscriptions by acknowledging readers' morbid interest in news while presenting *Life*'s humor as relief from dark events. The tone suggests post-WWI disillusionment common to 1920s satirical magazines.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Taking Life is with many people a habit. Some obey that impulse after they have seen only one copy of this interesting paper ; others, after they have read one or two of the half veiled attempts of ours on this page to make it appear that we’re quite indifferent. Still others feel the pressure of daily events, and in a desire to be relieved from care are often amused by the things they see in Life. There is however no special reason why you ought to become a regular sub- scriber now—except your sense of duty. ‘Three months for about one dollar (see coupon). * Enclosed 2, find One Del- lar (Canadian $1.13, Foreign $1.26). Send Lire for three months to The Miniature Life, Number Three, is now ready Open only to new subscribers; no sub- ; scription renewed at this rate. and will be sent to any address free on receipt of a two-cent stamp for LIFE, 17 West 3ust Street, New York 63 “I Obeyed That Impulse!” mailing. Oss'vestesn0: an $5.82, Foreign $8.04) Tere Serw nw. a! Comichooks.qomnn