Life, 1914-11-26 · page 21 of 44
Life — November 26, 1914 — page 21: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine contains three satirical pieces: **"Oath Wanted"**: A mock want-ad lamenting that traditional oaths have lost meaning. The satire argues that as society modernizes ("evolution, higher criticism"), people no longer reverence the things they once swore by (honor, ancestors), making oaths unenforceable. It's commentary on declining moral authority in contemporary society. **"Queer!"**: Criticism of "Pastor Russell" (likely referring to Charles Taze Russell, founder of Jehovah's Witnesses), who published lengthy sermons in major newspapers. The satirist questions the funding source—noting that while ads promote his books, selling them at 25 cents at a loss suggests ulterior commercial or evangelical motives, not genuine publishing. **The cartoons** ("His Baby," "The Alibi," "The Trap," "Votes for Women") are separate satirical illustrations without visible captions explaining their specific references—likely contemporary political or social commentary typical of *Life*'s humor.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘LIBE: Oath Wanted 'ANTED—Oath. Owing to exigencies, evolution, higher criticism and other innovations, there is urgent need for a solemn oath that will command ani- versal respect and be considered binding. During the history of the race, man has sworn by everything he could think of at one time or another; by his halidom, by his honor, by his ancestors, and so on, always picking something that he reverenced at the time and considering himself forsworn so long as his reverence lasted. But, alas! reverence, like other sentiments, is shifty, and the truth is hard to tell when a lie better suits one’s interests, and so it has been continually necessary to invent new and more awe-inspiring oaths, We now seem to have run the entire gamut of past, present and future, leaving noth- ing that man can swear by with any great assurance that he will respect his oath. This need must be supplied before we can proceed. Address M. T. Church, Minerva Street, Ennyburg. Queer ! OX would like to know where the money comes from which pays advertising rates for publication on Mon- days in the leading New York daily papers of two-column sermons by one “Pastor Russell”, Somewhere behind these disbursements there must be a considerable enthu- siasm, Appended to the sermons is an advertisement of a book, and that suggests a commercial motive. But a book of six hundred pages, cloth bound, for twenty-five cents implies not a profit, but a loss. THE ALIBI of the great things about the school of experience is that it has no professors. HIS NABY THE TRAP