Life, 1915-10-14 · page 40 of 44
Life — October 14, 1915 — page 40: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains **three separate pieces of content**: a rifle advertisement, a brief humorous anecdote, and a hotel advertisement. **"It Wasn't Their Fault"** is a short joke playing on racial stereotypes common to early 20th-century American humor. It features a Black church deacon named Alexander Greenleaf Jackson who, when asked if white neighbors keep chickens, responds that they don't—but "suttinly tries hahd enuff to," implying they steal his. The humor relies on dialect humor and the stereotype of petty theft, presented as witty repartee. **"The Work of the Devil"** is a longer anecdote about a nervous man who warns against betting as sinful, then recounts how a bet led him to propose to a beautiful stranger on a train—and she accepted, trapping him in an unwanted marriage. The moral irony is the punchline: betting indeed proved devilish in his case. The advertisements (Remington rifles and Hotel Bossert) are straightforward commercial appeals to contemporary readers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Superior in “Hang,” Action and Accuracy AN SOON as Sportsmen got to asking Why and How about rifles, Remington-' MC High Power Rifles came into their own. To-day Remington-UMC High Power Big Game Rifles are in demand more than ever—by the leading crack shots and by the great body of Sportsmen, who are quite as able to tell a good gun when they see it perform as any professional expert. The Remington-UMC dealer in your community—he’s the man to go to for these rifles. He makes it a point to show the guns that his best customers want. Ask to see Remington-UMC High Power Slide Action Repeaters, six shots, solid breech, hammerless, safe, Autoloading Rifles—Five shots, simply press trigger for cach shot. Solid breech, hammerless, positive safety device, REMINGTON ARMS-UNION METALLIC CARTRIDGE CO. (233 Broadway) NEW YORK CITY WOOLWORTH BLDG. larmay Monogram Cigarettes h of Distinction, at n ssortineat of monogra: pogrann Uy m Ladies’ size with or without perfume AMI Shipments Ia Plain Packages, Insured and Prepald Marmay Mig. Co., Dept. B, 136 S. 4th, Philadelphia It Wasn't Their Fault Alexander Greenleaf Jackson, a pillar of the colored church, was entertaining at dinner the pastor and some of the promi- nent members. After grace Alexander be- gan to carve the chicken, and the pastor waxed facetious. “Brudder Jackson,” he asked, “do de white folks around you keep chickens?” Alexander pried loose the second wing “No, sah,” he responded, “ dey does not ; but dey suttinly tries hahd enuff to.” —Ladies’ Home Journal. The Work of the Devil HE subject had turned to betting. The nervous little man, who had been silent all evening, suddenly spoke. “Betting,” he said, “is the work of the devil and should be prohibited by law. If you lose, you feel defrauded by fate; if you win——” he broke off and shuddered. We waited for him to continue. Peo- ple who rarely speak are sometimes listened to. “Once,” he said, “I made a bet. On a train. The most beautiful girl in the world sat across the aisle. I said to my friend, ‘ That’s the kind of a girl I want to marry.’ “He said, ‘I dare you to go up and propose to her.’ “*T bet,’ I answered, ‘I could get acquainted with her that way.’ “He said, ‘I bet you'd be thrown off the train.” “So we bet—cigars. I used to smoke then, “T went up to her and said: “*Madam, you are the most beautiful woman in the world. Will you marry me?’” The silent man stopped again and wiped the perspiration from his fore- head. “Did you win?” we prompted. “Worse than that,” he answered. “She said to me, ‘Sir, I am bored to death. I will marry you.’ And she did, at the next stop. “ Betting,” repeated the nervous little man, with more or less relevance, ac- cording to the way you view ‘such things, “is the work of the devil and should be prohibited by law.” And he sank back into his dark corner gloomily. Leola Brandeis. you get a woaderful panora New, (York Harbor, the Sk "@ Toland, the Statve of Liberty, and the Jersey Shore, when you dive.et Brooklya’s home oflaxurious: Hotel Bossert | It ie but 20 minutes from New York's shoppiag district and theatre center. Every facility, eomtort, convenience, and loxury of New York's ultra-fashionable hotels at far more available rates. 400 Gnely farnished rooms or suites. Excep- tional cuisine, Transient and Residential. Montages - Hicks Remsen Streets, Breoklys. comicbooks.com