Life, 1914-10-22 · page 30 of 44
Life — October 22, 1914 — page 30: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Cartoon ("No Bigamist"):** A door-to-door canvasser (political campaigner) makes an insinuating remark to a woman, suggesting she has a man living with her. Her angry response—in Irish dialect—reveals he's simply commenting on the multiple pairs of pants visible on her clothesline. The satire mocks political canvassers who make presumptuous or inappropriate remarks while campaigning. **Main Article ("Query"):** Written during World War I, this piece criticizes churches for defending their inaction regarding the war. It sarcastically argues that if financial interests, women, and labor leaders couldn't stop the war, churches shouldn't be blamed either. The article questions institutional religion's moral authority and effectiveness during the conflict. **Bottom Cartoon:** A teacher-student exchange about what eats bad elephants is a simple children's joke, unrelated to the political content above. The page overall satirizes both petty campaigning and institutional failures to address war.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
NO BIGAMIST Gallant and Facetious Canvasser: 1 PERCEIVE, MADAM, THAT YOU ARE—TO SAY THE LEAST— AH—NOT EXACTLY ALONE IN THE WORLD. The Lady: Be OFF WiD YE, VE BLAGGARD, WID YER VOILE INSINUASHU SURF, CAN'T A MAN HAVE MORE TH'N WAN PAIR O' PANTS? Query HE are busy days for clergymen, who spend their time defending their particular churches from the responsibility of not stopping the war, or from the criti- cism that, although they have been running for several centuries, apparently they have not made much of a dent in the war spirit. One clergyman was asked why the church did not close up like the stock exchange. The clergyman replied that the church had not had a fair chance. There is something in that. If the financial interests of the world, the women and the labor leaders all com- bined had apparently no effect on stopping the war, how could the churches be expected to do it? WHAT BECOMES OF BAD LITTLE ELEPHANTS? COMPANY is for talk; privacy for thinking. SE, MUM, A MOUSE EATS THEM,”