Life, 1917-01-18 · page 32 of 40
Life — January 18, 1917 — page 32: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains humorous short jokes and quips typical of early 20th-century American satirical magazines, alongside period advertisements. ## The Humor Content The "Imagiste Love Lines" section satirizes pretentious modern poetry (the Imagist movement), mocking overwrought romantic metaphors ("eyes are gray, like twin ash-cans"). The subsequent jokes are mild social observations: a socialist who borrows his roommate's belongings, a wife's quip about greeting her husband, and a father's dubious science lesson about eye-blinking. "His Besetting Sin" is a sentimental anecdote about an Edinburgh upholsterer whose rare chattiness over twenty years leads to contradictory mattress advice—the joke being that his one vice was talking. ## The Advertisements The page features whiskey (Cascade) and golf resort (Del Monte, California) ads—typical luxury goods marketed to Life's affluent readership. These ads reflect the magazine's pre-Prohibition era and target audience. The humor is gentle, wholesome, and aimed at educated readers familiar with literary pretension and upper-class social conventions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
:AUT SCISSORS AvT NULLus Imagiste Love Lines I love my lady with a deep purple love; She fascinates me like a fly Struggling in a pot of glue. Her eyes are gray, like twin ash-cans, Just emptied, about which still hovers A dusty mist. Her disposition is as bright as a ten-cent shine, Yet her kisses are tender and goulashy. I love my lady with a deep purple love. —Columbia Jester. Po: Your room-mate says that he is a practical socialist. Dunk: He must be. He wears my shirts, smokes my tobacco, and writes to my girls. —Pitt Panther, “Do you sit up for your husband?” “No; Tam an early riser and am al- ways up in time to greet him.” —Boston Transcript. AN UNFAVORABLE REPORT FROM THE REAR His Besetting Sin Old John Bates, an Edinburgh uphol- sterer, was renowned for his silence. People who had been his customers for a generation had, many of them, never heard a word from him, except “ Good morning. Five shillings. Thank you Good day.” ‘A patron one day said to John: “What's the best kind of mattress?" “Hair,” was the reply. The patron, some twenty -years later, had occasion to buy another mattress, and again asked’ what the best kind was. “ Cotton,” said John. “Cotton!” the patron cried. “Why, you told me twenty years ago that hair was the best.” The old man gave a quaint sigh. “Talking has always been my ruin,” he said.—Tit-Bits. Pa: At last I've: found a way to make that young scamp of ours stop winking his eyes. Ma: Really? Pa: Yes; I'll show him the articles in this science magazine where it says that every time we wink we give the eye a bath—Buffalo Express. Lire is published every Thursday, simultaneously in the United States, Great Britain, Canada and British Possessions. Title registered in U. S. Patent Office. $5.00 a year in advance. Additional postage to foreign countries in the Postal Union, $1.03 a year; to Canada, 52 cents. Single current copies, 10 cents. Back numbers, after three months from date of publication, 25 cents. Issues prior to 1910 out of print. The text and illustrations in Lure are copyrighted. For Reprint Rights in Great Britain apply to Lire, Rolls House, Breams Buildings, Fetter Lane, London, E. C., England, Lire is for sale by all newsdealers in Great Britain and may be obtained from boot sellers in all the principal cities in the world. The foreign trade supplied {ros ‘ondon Office, Rolls House, Breams Buildings, London, E. C. contribution will be returned unless accompanied by stamped and addressed envelope. Livt docs not hold itself responsible for the loss or non-return of nie} licited contributions. i 4 Notice of change of address should reach this ofice en days prior to the date of issue to be afected, } MELLOW “ AS® M 2 OOTH as the MOONLIGHT tread of a forest Sum) creature —rich with . +f the life and vigor of @ =the finest grain—pure >» by thorough purifica- | tion— mellow as Original Bottling Has Old Gold Labe! GEo. A, DicKEL & Co, T moonlight— Cascade. Distillers Nashville, Tenn. PURE WHISKY ig | weaeti-'.- Maintaining the finest and most ==" picturesque 18-hole, all-grass golf course in Western Amer- ica; polo, tennis, and widest variety of winter diversions. Mild and healthful win- “2! ter climate. More to do and more to see at Del Monte than any other resort in the world. Pictur- esque 17-mile drive through the world-famous cypress roves, pine forests, and along autiful Monterey Bay. Miles of level boulevards, the delight of the motorist. On the Southern Pacific Railroad, 125 miles south of San Francisco. OLF For Rates and Tariff apply Carl Stanley, Manager — [ere if im Wi