Life, 1915-01-28 · page 29 of 40
Life — January 28, 1915 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains WWI-era satirical content from *Life* magazine (circa 1914-1918): **"Chant Before Battle"** is a patriotic war poem by Leolyn Louise Everett invoking German atrocities—the destruction of Belgian cities (Rheims, Brussels, Louvain, Liège)—as motivation for Allied victory. It references real wartime destruction used for propaganda. **"A Confusing Explanation"** critiques the U.S. Navy's report on a smallpox outbreak aboard the USS *Ohio*. The satire attacks official obfuscation: the report claims "no record" of prior vaccination, yet implies vaccination occurred but failed. The author mocks how authorities protect vaccination's credibility through circular logic and vague language, suggesting mandatory vaccination without clear evidence of effectiveness. **The cartoon** by Ellison Hoover depicts a Black woman and child in a satirical "choice" dialogue, using period dialect stereotypes common to *Life*'s humor. **"Particularize"** is a brief joke about optimism versus pessimism—wordplay on "end of troubles." The vaccination critique reflects genuine early-20th-century skepticism about medical mandates during wartime.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Chant Before Battle Y the grey smoke athwart the skies, By the hot tears in mothers’ eyes, By the wee babes that cry for bread, By our own wounded, by our dead, We swear that there shall come a day When Germany shall pay. By Rheims’ great towers that ages wrought, By Brussels with starvation bought, By the red ruins of Louvain, By Liége and its bloody pain, We swear that there shall come a day When Germany shall pay. By every outraged maid and wife, By every child that felt the knife, By every shot and shell we fling, By Belgium’s self, by Belgium’s king, We swear that there shall come a day When Germany shall pay. Leolyn Louise Everett. A Confusing Explanation TH report of the Surgebn-General, United States Navy, about those twenty-nine smallpox cases on the battleship Ohio justifies our worst sus- picions. Very clearly the report was so long withheld because no explana- tion could be rendered that was cred- itable to vaccination, and vaccination must be protected at all hazards. Thus saith the orthodox. The report takes great pains to leave every vital point in the dark, “There is no record of any vaccination having been done on the Ohio for two years before this outbreak.” This ne plus ultra sidestep confers upon the public the blessed privilege of guessing that there 1s a record that does show that vaccination did take place on the Ohio two years before the outbreak, and that this vaccination was not effective. After the outbreak, says the report, everybody was vaccinated, and nine- tenths of them showed “takes” or “about what would be expected in an unprotected community ”. And so, friends and fellow citizens, there you are. If you have “no rec- ord” of having been vaccinated for two years you are justified by a high authority in considering yourself un- © ELLISON Hoovers. F YO' HAD YOUR CHOICE, 1.1ZA, WHICH WOULD YO" RATHER DO—LIV “an'D RATHER LIV “wry, HAIN’T DONE Yo" No Goop 'TALL!" protected and indulging in a few ap- prehensive shudders as to what may happen to you at any minute. We used to be told, with scientific solemnity, that vaccination protected us for seven years. Now it is two years. After the next outbreak in the navy, or else- where, it may be one year. Then it may be a week, and ultimately, in order to be thoroughly sure of our protection, we may have to drop in at the doctor's every morning on our way to the office. But even if it is never any worse yo’ SCAN'LOUS CHILE! OR DIE AN’ GO TO HEAVEN?” SUNDAY-SCHOOL than it is now, we pity the poor soldiers and sailors and other unfortunates who have no choice but to submit to what- ever poisons the doctors may impose upon them or inject into them. E. 0. J. Particularize “ AT last I am at the end of my troubles,” exclaimed the Opti- mist, “Which end?” asked the Pessimist, gloomily. comicbooks.com