Life, 1916-12-21 · page 26 of 36
Life — December 21, 1916 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**"The Villages" Poem:** A nostalgic elegy lamenting the destruction of peaceful European village life caused by World War I. The poem, attributed to Charlotte Becker, mourns the pastoral idyll—red-tiled roofs, church bells, peasant girls singing—now devastated by the "blood-swept trenches" of the war. **Top Cartoon:** Shows a man dismissing a poor woman from his office with the callous remark "Throw her out!" — illustrating heartlessness toward the vulnerable. **"Object Lesson for a Pension Fund":** A critical article about Mrs. Mary Sanford, a 49-year-old widow imprisoned for theft. Her clergyman husband died leaving only debts; the Congregational Church abandoned her. The piece uses her case to advocate for the Episcopal Church's five-million-dollar clergy pension fund, arguing that ministers shouldn't need to sell pencils on streets or have widows resort to crime out of desperation. **Bottom Cartoon:** Rural humor about fuel scarcity—a motorist stranded without gasoline, told by a local he needn't worry about stains since he's "forty miles from nowhere."
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Villages CANNOT bear to think of them— The little sunny, smiling places, That used to bask along the road, And grected one like friendly faces, The red-tiled roofs, the cobbled streets, The clock-towers with their great bells swinging, The windows where gay blossoms leaned, The bright-faced peasant lasses sing- ing. The meadows where, at harvest time, The garnered grain lay ripe for bind- ing By stalwart lads—what reap they now Through those far — blood-swept trenches winding? I cannot bear to think of them— The little sunny, smiling places, That used to bask along the road, And greeted one like friendly faces. Charlotte Becker. N view of the high cost of living, the hen is mightier than the Ford, “SAM, THIS POOR WOMAN IS BREAKING MY HEART WITH HER PITIFUL STORY, THROW HER ouT!” Object Lesson for a Pension Fund RS MARY ANFORD, forty-nine years old, sent to the penitentiary late in November for larceny in New York, is the widow of a Congregational clergyman, who died of tuberculosis in 1910, nine months after she married him, She said in a letter to the court that her husband left nothing but debts, and she complained that the members and clergy’ of the Congregational Church made no effort to help her. It would be rash to blame members or ministers of the Congregational Church on her testimony, but her case emphasizes the value of the Episcopal effort, headed by Bishop Lawrence of Massachusetts, to provide a_five- million-dollar reserve pension fund for the Episcopal clergy. The plan for that fund provides for a minimum annuity of six hundred dollars for clergymen on retire- ment at sixty-eight, and for a minimum of three hundred dollars for their widows, provided the marriage antedates retirement. If there are to be ministers, and they are to divert their energies from money-making to the improvement of man- kind, provision for their old age is to be commended to ; . 7 i all churches. It doesn’t look well even to have old minis- Lone Native (to Stalled Motorist): No, 1 AtN't Got A . ; tIT-O° GASOLINE—DUT YE NEEDN'T WORRY AROUT THEM ters sell lead-pencils on the street, much less to have their SPOTS ON YER COAT; YE'RE FORTY MILES FROM NOWHERE! relicts obliged to apologize to courts for larcenies. comichooks.