Life, 1916-10-19 · page 30 of 42
Life — October 19, 1916 — page 30: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine contains several short humorous pieces typical of early 20th-century American satire: **"It Didn't Follow"** is a joke about semantic absurdity: a customer complains a "chicken pie" contains no chicken. The waiter's logic—that a "dog biscuit" contains no dog—exposes the illogical naming convention. The satire targets either poor restaurant quality or linguistic pedantry. **The plumber anecdote** mocks an apprentice's casual excuse for disappearing during work ("getting ma hair cut"), with the Scots-dialect punchline suggesting the boss questions whether hair actually grows that quickly. **"Ecclesiastical Discrimination"** jokes about frontier poverty: a rural town mayor warns an incoming preacher they must haul water twelve miles, implying the congregation is too poor to support him properly. These are primarily **working-class humor** and **social commentary on service industries, labor, and rural conditions**—typical of *Life's* satirical stance. No specific political figures or events are referenced; the satire targets general human foolishness and social contradictions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
It Didn't Follow A hungry customer seated himself at a table in a restaurant and ordered a chicken pic. When it arrived he raised the crust and sat gazing at the contents for a while. Finally he called the waiter. “Look here, Sam," he said. “ What did I order?” “ Chicken pie, sir.” “And what have you brought me?” “Chicken pie, sir.” “Chicken pie, you rascal!” the cus- tomer replied. “Chicken pic! Why, there's not a piece of chicken in it, and never was.” “That's right, sir, there ain't’ no chicken init,” “Then why do you call it chicken pie? T never heard of such a thing “That's all right. There don't have to be no chicken in a chicken pic. There ain't no dog in a dog biscuit, is there?" —The Wasp. SEXOLOG “Tuat man you were talking to is un- £ * J der suspicion of being an ? Sandy, the plumber, was working on | by William H. Walling, A.M., M.D. “T don't care,” replied Miss Cayenne. a town job with an apprentice. “With organized governments heaving In the course of the forenoon the boss fiitroglycerine around’ the earth by the visited the job, and, failing to find Sandy ton, a little thing like a crank with a anywhere about the premises, decided to hand grenade doesn’t seem worth notic- wait his return, ing."—Washington Star. “Where have yout been? demanded ‘sowie! ae ey the boss when fandy put in an appear- Mther Stood Have. Mtr Srl Lp! Her Dae a lave. ance. “Gettin? ma hair cut,” answered s Opinions’ and Talle ot Contents. 9 ; : Wrae ar “Other People Sandy, quite coolly. PURITAN PUB. CO.. 797 PERRY BLDG, PHILA. in my time?” | G LUE 10° | “Weel, disna it grow in your time?” | 4 —Tit-its. WHEN A NAIL WONT DO CHANGE of ADDRESS = — — Dixer: That man at the round table gets much better food and attention than Ido. I shall complain to the manager. The Post Office does not forward paper mail to a second address without prepay- woe f postage. It is essential that notice MAKES THE PERFECT Whcreita be? | bra . vite: | He ge of address should reach us fen COCKTAIL—HIGHBALL OR RICKEY. Waiter: He's the man at the round capt te adoanis of tie ds of the sue. table, sir—London Opinion. LIFE PUBLISHING COMPANY, 17 West 31st Street, New York Ecclesiastical Discrimination The mayor of a tough border town is about 10 engage a preacher for the new church. “Parson, you aren't by any chance 3 The name ipeoves Baptist, are you?” ° the quality et Why, no, not necessarily. Why?” “Well, I was just agoin’ to say we have to haul our water twelve miles.” In the protective bottle—‘‘a good Keneas City Star. ia acle ” bottle to keep good whiskey good. <Phaoe qoes'tlore fail zon novi? “Maybe it docs; but it goes a lot quicker after one."—Boston Transcript.