Life, 1914-10-08 · page 17 of 44
Life — October 8, 1914 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The top illustration depicts an idealized suburban development with real estate signs, reflecting early 20th-century American optimism about urban expansion and property sales. The main text piece, "Baseball for Germany," is post-WWI satire suggesting that Germans are dangerously intense and militant. The author proposes baseball as a "prescription" to pacify them—similar to how the sport allegedly distracted Filipinos from anti-colonial resistance. The piece darkly jokes that Germans need diversion "again presently," implying future conflict is inevitable. It's condescending commentary on both German character and American assumptions about sports' civilizing power. The accompanying sketch captioned "TO OUR WIVES—GOD HELP THEM" shows men gathered around what appears to be a woman, likely satirizing gender relations or domestic life. Below, "How To Mend a Broken Heart" is flippant romantic advice—essentially suggesting replacing a lost love with a new one through proximity. **Context**: This reflects post-WWI anxieties about Germany and American attitudes blending sporting optimism with skepticism about lasting peace.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THIS RARE CORNER Wire paivate tar FOR SALE cm AND werEL Rs thot ts IMPROVED the shoulder of a nation. Baseball for Germany ASEBALL was said to have an excellent effect on the Filipinos and to have diverted their minds helpfully from hostilities. Wouldn’t it be a good prescription for the Germans by and by? They are a bit too intense. They have needed AN diversion, and will need it again presently. Baseball m and perhaps football might divert them profitably, besides helping to keep them in good physical condition without so much drill. They have good enough home grounds and the best leer in the world. If the world, as it appears, is not going to he Germanized, something ought to be done to humanize the Germans. The world and the Germans ought to get together. How To Mend a Broken Heart IF it belongs to a lady, go out and get a perfectly good heart belonging to a gentleman. Keep the good heart in the vicinity of the broken one for a given length of time, and the broken heart will be observed to mend grad- “TO OUR WIVES "—COD HELP THEM ually and become whole again.