Life, 1916-06-08 · page 15 of 46
Life — June 8, 1916 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two unrelated pieces: a silent-film still with dialogue, and a "Hint to Young and Old Writers" essay. **Top image:** A man in formal attire enters a room where two women sit. The caption suggests he's violated car-operation instructions by shifting from high gear to reverse without stopping—a mechanical error presented as humorous marital/domestic conflict. The joke relies on automotive ignorance being treated as a domestic transgression. **Bottom cartoon:** Two men in top hats stand before the Capitol building. One advises indicting "citizens for contempt of congress"—satirizing political corruption or congressional unpopularity. The joke mocks either Congress's unpopularity or suggests widespread public disdain for lawmakers warrants mass prosecution. **Essay:** Advises writers against exhausting subjects, arguing that poorly-chosen topics become tedious regardless of execution.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“WHY, BILLY, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?” “WELL, THE INSTRUCTION BOOK SAYS YOU CAN'T GO FROM HIGH GEAR TO REVERSE WITHOUT ENTIRELY STOPPING THE CAR, BUT I DID IT.” Hint to Young and Old Writers RITERS should early learn not to try to exhaust a sub- ject. If there is one thing above another thing that a subject will not stand for it is to be exhausted. It is the one tireless thing extant. In every other way subjects are amiable and tractable. If you go at a subject in the right spirit you can say nearly anything you wish about it, but immediately you try to get a rope around a sub- ject’s neck and chase it around a ring until it is absolutely used up, the said subject takes on a dry, dogged, stubborn air and refuses to be interesting, and, of course, a writer who cannot keep his subject interesting is lost. Think of the most uninteresting books you ever read. They were written by men who quite evidently sat down with the mental resolution: “Now I'll just clean up on this subject once and for all, so that it will henceforth be clear to all posterity, even unto the day of judgmen But, of course, no such aim was ever realized. The only sure result of trying to exhaust a subject is to prove that it is exhaustless. No Escape ROMIDE: I suppose you were at the wedding yester- Sam: 1F You'Re GOING TO BEGIN INDICTING CITIZENS FOR day Siac CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS YOU'D BETTER INDICT THE WHOLE. Fatuer or THE Brive: Heavens! yes. Physically, men- COUNTRY, tally, spirituously and financially! comicbooks.com