Life — December 21, 1916 — page 12: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis The page contains two distinct sections: **Left column:** An essay titled "An Asylum for Rejected Manuscripts" argues that bad manuscripts deserve sympathetic editorial treatment rather than dismissal. The author proposes a refuge staffed by literary experts who would handle rejections with "common sense, capacity for real sentiment and humor." **Right side:** A boxed poem titled "Epitaphs on the Kaiser" contains satirical verses mocking Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, emphasizing his cowardice ("never fired a gun"), ineffectiveness, and responsibility for German suffering. References to the "Lusitania" (the ship Germany sank in 1915) place this during WWI. **Below:** An illustration and brief item announce the death of Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria, with succession to his understudy Charles Francis. The page reflects WWI-era American sentiment—mocking German leadership while treating serious subjects (rejected writers, imperial death) with dark humor characteristic of *Life* magazine's satirical approach.