Life, 1916-07-06 · page 15 of 42
Life — July 6, 1916 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains satirical commentary on two separate topics: **"Interpretation"** (top left): A poem by Mabel Rice Bigler satirizing a child's pockets filled with random treasures—whistles, eggs, broken reels, and "clockwork" contraptions. The satire appears to mock adults' tendency to sentimentalize or over-interpret children's innocent play and collections. **"A Declaration of Independence"** (center): A mock-serious declaration about Henpecked men rebelling against subordinate household status. It's tongue-in-cheek satire on marital power dynamics, particularly women's domestic authority over men—a humorous commentary on gender relations and male frustration with wives' authority. **"Tinkering"** (right): Criticizes Congressman Lee's copyright bill, mocking his apparent lack of understanding about intellectual property and ideas. The satire suggests the congressman is ignorant about what he's legislating. The illustrations depict domestic scenes complementing these social critiques.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
—— i= $ Interpretation ‘OU turned out the boy’s bursting pockets and groaned at the stains, The rents pinned together to safeguard a hop-toad’s re- mains, A whittled-out whistle of willow, wild-fern roots, a pair Of cotton-wrapped wren’s eggs, a slingshot all ready for bear, Smooth pebbles, a half-eaten apple, fish-hooks, broken reels, A marvelous engine of clockworks and string and spool- wheels— You sighed at the wreck of the pockets and frowned at the child? Ah, Audubon, Agassiz, John Muir and Edison—smiled! Mabel Rice Bigler. A Declaration of Independence H in the course of family events, it be- comes necessary for the race of Henpecks to rebel against the atrocities which have reduced them to a subordinate position in the household, and to assume among the husbands of the earth that dignified and au- tonomous station to which the laws of husbands and of the sacred Lares and Penates entitle them, a decent re- spect for orderly procedure requires them to declare the causes which impel them to such unheard-of temerity. We hold these truths to be self-evident to a large num- ber of people, and especially to married men: that all Hen- pecks are created less than equal; that they are endowed by a pitiless Nemesis with certain inalienable wives, among which are vixens, viragos and destroyers of happiness; THE POPULAR COMEDIAN TAKES A HOLIDAY “(WM SORRY, WILLIF, BUT I'VE PROMISED TO MARRY BOBBY SMITH—HIS FATHER KEEPS A CANL STORE.” that to escape these, will power is instituted among men, deriving its just effectiveness from the constitution and by-laws of the man that possesses it; and that when a cer- tain wife becomes too overt in her encroachments upon the paternal dignity and autonomosity, it is the duty of the said Henpeck to alter or abolish it and in its stead to assert his will power, to the end that he may ever after- ward occupy the seat of the mighty and not be afraid to call his soul his own, Tinkering E have a copyright law. It isn’t the best copyright law that ever was, but it affords a certain amount of pro- tection to the brain property of authors and artists. The law, such as it is, is not satisfactory to a Cong! man named Lee. Therefore he has introduced a bill in the interests of pirates and idea-thieves which takes out of the copyright law some of the penalties provided for those who steal the brain work of others. Lire doesn’t happen to know where this particular Con- gressman, Lee by name, comes from. Evidently, though, he doesn’t attach much value to ideas, Perhaps he doesn’t know anything about them. Perhaps he never had one, except this bad one, and even ‘the idea of tinkering the copyright law seems to have been supplied to him by some- one interested in the thieving game. This Lee bill, and the ridiculous action of the House in arresting United States Attorney Marshall for contempt of its august self, irresistibly recalls the old conundrum, “Why is a Congressman?” comicbooks.com