Life, 1915-11-18 · page 17 of 52
Life — November 18, 1915 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The page contains three distinct satirical pieces: **Left cartoon:** "I Christen Thee Hypocritia Elaine Smith" depicts a priest baptizing a child born out of wedlock. The accompanying story describes a desperate unwed mother confronting a powerful man (implied to be a political or business leader) who impregnated her boyfriend Frank, who died. She demands money; he pays her off. The satire targets wealthy men's exploitation of working-class women and the hypocrisy of religious institutions that shame illegitimate children while powerful men escape consequences. **Right cartoon:** Shows numbered children (one marked "13") in what appears to be a factory or work setting, satirizing child labor practices. **"Just a Lapse":** A brief joke about someone habitually lying. **"Sensible Illinois":** Praises Illinois's Supreme Court for striking down compulsory school vaccination requirements, arguing education's benefits outweigh disease risks—an early anti-vaccination stance. The page critiques class exploitation, religious hypocrisy, child labor, and supports medical freedom over public health mandates.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Kept saying, ‘Our kid’s got to have a father, Mary. Our kid's got to have a father.’ “Well, the priest came as quick as he could, and he was going to marry us, but Frank was dead.” The girl's voice trailed off into a wail, but she choked on, defiantly: “Now I lost my job, because they can all see my trouble. And we got to have the money, You give me that five hundred dollars! You give it to me!” The president had turned his back toward her, She fumbled nervously with a queerly shaped thing covered with a handkerchief in her right hand, The president turned silently and handed her a bundle. Dumbly she counted five one- hundred-dollar bills, At the bottom was a check. “Pay to the order of Mary Burczyk,” it read, “two thousand dollars.” Mary sank on the floor in a little heap. “I'd rather have shot you,” she sobbed. HERE'S many a slip ’twixt the . Krupp and the Dieppe. AND SHE WAS NUMBER 13 IN THE FACTORY Just a Lapse OKUS: I actually caught Long- bow telling the truth yesterday. Poxus: Wasn't he embarrassed? Hokus: Only momentarily. He im- mediately tried to lie out of it. ILLUSTRATED SLANG GOT THE GOODS ON HIM Sensible Illinois TH Supreme Court of Illinois has recently declared unconstitutional the compulsory vaccination of school children. The judges were unable to “find that a healthy child is a menace to pupils or teachers,” but rather that the dangers of ignorance from forcing children out of school were much more real and imminent than the dangers of smallpox, even allowing that vaccina- tion was a preventive. Therefore, the court goes on: To use the leverage of coercion or intimidation, with parental love as a fulerum, and thus force parents to do certain things against their con- science is neither ethical nor equita- ble. As a legal resort it is unjusti- fiable. This puts Illinois in the very van- guard of enlightenment and encourages the hope that Supreme Courts of other States will lose no time in drinking from the same fount of wisdom. E0. J. comicbooks.com