Life, 1916-03-30 · page 9 of 45
Life — March 30, 1916 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Main Cartoon**: Shows a woman lounging indoors saying "Excuse me a moment, O Lord. There's the phone." This satirizes the era's emerging telephone culture and women's social lives—the humor lies in treating a phone call as more urgent than prayer, mocking both modern distraction and perhaps the trivialization of religious devotion. **Bottom Cartoon**: Depicts a wife asking her husband "How many have I taken to come this far, John?" He replies "Oh, about ten thousand words." This jokes about marital communication—the wife has walked ten thousand words' worth of distance while her husband talked, satirizing male verbosity and inattentiveness to spouses. Both cartoons use domestic scenarios to mock modern social behavior.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
it. There was much feeling behind the Plattsburg camp movement. Most men who went to Plattsburg and the other camps went from a strong sense of duty. They had felt and thought deeply about it. There were enough men of that sort to make the summer camps succeed; there was feeling enough to feed them; but we have still to learn whether there is feeling enough to carry through these larger CUSE ME A MOMENT, O LORD. THERE'S THE PHONE” plans of national defénse that are now on the carpet, and fill the regiments that they will provide for. The general conscience of the coun- try has not taken up the military bur- den yet. The movement has energetic missionaries, but it is still in the stage when men say, “This seems a good thing. Somebody ought to doit.” Ithas not got yet to the stage when they say, “This is my duty. Here I am!” Eng- 565 land got to that stage only after a year of pounding and bereavement, and of terrors driven home and an im- mense exercise of all the lifting power of Great Britain. Bu no terrors have been brought home to us; we have not suffered loss or bereavement. We are called upon to provide in cold blood against a possible need which thousands of talkative citizens deny and deride. That is our predicament, and if we can take effective measures under such condi- tions it will be very much to our credit It may be that for the moment we can do no more than prepare to prepare. If we can string the wires through which the current is to pass, that will be much; very much. It will be much to plan organization both for the army and the navy; to vote and collect the money to provide for the great ma- chinery of defense. If, in addition, we can moderately increase the regular army, provide for the instruction of a large number of officers, so far as it can be carried in peace times, and train young men who are willing, as they come along, in the duties of a soldier, we shall do about all that can be hoped for. We shall have no great popular movement towards military preparation until somebody bumps into us hard, or the idea comes that will stir men's souls. E. S. Martin. Wife (learning): HOW MANY HAVEL TAKEN TO COME THIS FAR, JOHN? “OH, ABOUT TEN THOUSAND WORDS.” comicbooks.com