Life, 1914-12-03 · page 24 of 92
Life — December 3, 1914 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The top cartoon depicts a broken-down early automobile stuck on a rural road. A constable (police officer) tells the driver they must hurry to court or face lockup overnight—a satirical comment on the judicial system's inflexibility and harsh treatment of those already in legal trouble. The accompanying text by E.S. Martin is a post-WWI editorial urging Americans to embrace Christmas's spiritual values—kindness, charity, shelter for the homeless—as an antidote to violence and social disorder. Martin argues that without Christmas's wisdom guiding civilization, society faces either violent collapse or joyless survival. The lower illustration labeled "Settlement Work" shows social workers or volunteers distributing aid to poor families, visualizing Martin's call for practical Christmas charity: feeding the hungry, clothing the destitute, nursing the sick. Together, the page contrasts society's punitive legal system with calls for compassionate, Christian-based social reform and mutual aid.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIFE KR ROK 48 Constable: SAY, MISTER, YOU BETTER GIT A MOVE ON. IF WE DON’T GIT TO COURT BEFORE IT CLOSES YOU'LL HAVE TO STOP IN THE LOCKUP ALL NIGHT ments? And is there room at the same. time for man? That 1s what you have to consider, and if you think No! what is your alternative? There is but one, and that is the idea that Christmas stands for. That is the only idea that has power enough behind it and is sane and wide and deep enough to dispute with Force for the mastery of life, To that idea mankind is sure to come back whenever the periodical spasms of violence have spent their fury, There is nothing else to return to. Let us stick to Christmas, then, the best we can; to its spirit, to its promise, to its methods. We have more need than ever to keep it this year, because we have more need than ever that Christmas shall keep us. Without it and its wisdom that confounds the warriors and diplomats and professors, we should have slight assurance of anything much better than a violent exit from a distracted world, or a bereaved continuance in a life that has lost its joy. We can hardly be merry this year in our Christmas- keeping, but at least we can be kind, and never did the straits of our fellows so urgently invite kindness or so powerfully appeal to our good will. To feed the hungry, and clothe the bare, and nurse the hurt, and shelter the homeless—that must be our Christmas-keeping this year. So let us hang a holly-wreath in the window and get to it. E, S. Martin. SETTLEMENT WORK