Life, 1916-05-18 · page 13 of 48
Life — May 18, 1916 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The cartoon depicts a mother asking her child, "Mother dear, is that horse with the mask a burglar's horse?" in what appears to be a public park or town square setting. The joke likely plays on children's literal interpretation of language. The "mask" probably refers to the dark markings on the horse's face (a common equine feature), which the child humorously mistakes for an actual burglar's disguise. This reflects early-20th-century concerns about crime and burglary, while poking fun at how children interpret adult warnings about criminals and suspicious characters. The cartoon is signed by the artist and follows typical Life magazine humor conventions: gentle, family-friendly satire about domestic life and childhood misunderstandings.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
AL BURKOU S- “MOTHER DEAR, IS THAT HORSE WITH THE MASK A BURGLAR'S HORSE?" man professors to such a degree that they might stop the war to talk it over. Just at this critical time along comes Colonel Henry Watterson with an en- trancing yarn based on a secret docu- ment said to have existed, to effect that the real Shakespeare was Chris- topher Marlowe, who, having had the bad luck to kill a man in a tavern brawl, swapped clothes with him, had it given out that he had himself been killed, escaped to France with the help of his friend Francis Bacon, and lived unknown in Italy many years, writing plays and sending them home to Bacon, who revised them and had Shakespeare produce them as his own, It is a grand story, and in Marse Henry’s hands it loses nothing in the telling. There is a vast deal of smoke in this persistent Bacon-was-Shakespeare yarn. How much fire is there? Per- haps we are going to find out. Per- haps, even if this is not the year of the end of the world, when all secrets are to be revealed, it is the year to begin the final solution of the Bacon-Shake- speare mystery, if there is one. Let us applaud, then, all the actors in this drama—Colonel Fabyan, Mr. Selig, Judge Tuthill, Colonel Watterson— with some belated applause for Delia Bacon and Ignatius Donelly, and clear the way for the truth, if there is any, to come out. Any penetrating dis- closure that would take people's minds off of war a little might do good. To the author of Shakespeare's plays be- longs the greatest literary reputation of modern times. Shakespeare has en- joyed it now for three centuries. If he is the Doctor Cook of dramatic history there is no harm in letting it become known. Most of the Bible has changed authorship in the last half century, Moses has been dispossessed from the Pentateuch and David from many of his psalms, while the New Testament writers have been shifted all around to suit contemporary scholars. If the sacred authors can stand the search- light, Shakespeare can, Walk up, then, William, to the front of the stage and let all the literary detectives have a look at you! Even if they get the plays away from you it will still remain that you were the Abraham Lincoln Er- langer of your day, and that is glory enough for anyone. E.S. M. ETTLEMENT HOUSE WORK- ER: Mrs. Belsito would like to join our club. Ctus Memaer: But, Mees Foster, venn ve organized dese glub you said dot der vould be no Eyetalians put in mit us Americans. comicbooks.com