Life, 1915-04-08 · page 8 of 44
Life — April 8, 1915 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes literary pretension during wartime. The top illustration shows an April Fool's prank involving a decorative urn in a garden setting. The main cartoon, titled "The Ban," depicts a social gathering where a woman named Elise, looking fatigued, tells her companions she must stop attending Red Cross balls due to doctor's orders. This appears to satirize upper-class women's wartime social obligations—the irony being that charitable Red Cross fundraising events, meant to support the war effort, have become so frequent and demanding that they're exhausting participants. The "Literature" section above mocks pretentious book-club discussions among socialites, where readers discuss popular works like Chambers and McGlynn while name-dropping literary titles. The satire targets shallow engagement with serious literature.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Literature SPHEY met immediately preceding the author’s reading. The au- thor—who was trying to make a ripple like a genius—had thought it would help him to be late. Said the pongee face: “My, you here! Well, I never! Said the black streak: “TI love him, don’t you? What have you been read- ing lately?” “Everything.” “Chambers?” “Oh, yes.” “And McCutcheon?” “Oh, yes.” “And MacGrath?” “Oh, yes. Wasn’t McClure’s good last_ month?” “Dandy! And Munsey’s was grand.” “Perfectly all right. How was McGlynn?” “Do you mean to say-— “And—oh, dear—who wrote ‘The Rosemary ’?” “T forget. Lovely, and——” Here the author came in. Whis- pered the pongee face to the black streak: “So glad to have had this chat. I do so love a real literary con- versation, don’t you?” THE BAN “YOU LOOK TIRED, ELISE. I’M AFRAID THIS TERRIBLE WAR 1s TELLING ON You” ” } MY DOCTORS SAY I MUST POSITIVELY STOP ATTENDING ANY MORE RED CROSS BALLS” comichooks.