Life, 1915-07-08 · page 25 of 44
Life — July 8, 1915 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main cartoon depicts a lion seated at a dining table with a monkey waiter, complaining about an ostrich egg. This is satirical social commentary using animal characters to represent class dynamics. The accompanying text article, "Be Gentle With Your Entity," uses "entity" as a euphemism for a servant or employee. The satire mocks wealthy employers (like the referenced "Miss Wagstaff") who mistreat their domestic help, then publicly complain about them. The article argues that reliable servants are difficult to maintain because employers don't treat them fairly—running them "down" through poor treatment, then blaming the servant for failing. The point: employers should treat their domestic staff with basic decency rather than exploit them and then expose their dissatisfaction publicly. The secondary item, "Outclassed," jokes about movie actors snubbing stage actors as inferior—a contemporary Hollywood versus theater rivalry reference.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“WAITER, I WISH TO CALL YOUR ATTENTION TO THE CONDITION OF THAT OSTRICH EGG!” Be Gentle With Your Entity The aching ages bind me in their old, And I am sick of my own entit I suffer with a sorrow manifold The tragic heritage of mortal T would be glad to no more greet t ol Returning day, and sleep—eter- nally. —Blanche Shoemaker W in the In HE moral of this is, of course, to always be sure of getting a reliable entity. A good steady entity that is always on time, never stays out late at nights, is pleasant and cheerful, even when the water doesn’t run in the bathroom, is mighty hard to get. But for this very reason persons so highly intelligent as Miss Wagstaff ought to take proper precautions be- forehand. Nobody ought to be left in the lurch with an entity such as we gather the impression hers is. Perhaps she started with a good en- tity and ran it down. Perhaps she didn't know how to treat it. She may have been too familiar with it and got it so it didn’t know its place. But if this is so, is it right to blame the entity now and come out boldly in yublic and state that she is sick of it? No entity likes to be exposed that way. You can do much with almost any entity if you are fair with it. If it been acting up and making you sick, quietly give it a few days off. If we had an entity like Miss Wag- staff's, that is what we would do with it. We wouldn't hold it up to scorn, Outclassed oTHE pretensions of that Furnley give me an awful pai “Furnley? Why, he’s the greatest actor on our stage to-da: “Sure! But that’s his limit. The uerve of him trying to associate with fellow us movie players!” comicbooks.com