Life, 1917-03-15 · page 8 of 42
Life — March 15, 1917 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**"To Confirmed Fault-Finders"** (poem by K.L.K.): A satirical verse mocking people who complain excessively about minor grievances while soldiers endure the horrors of World War I. It contrasts trivial complaints—cocktails served warm, being jostled in crowds—with soldiers' suffering and death. The message urges complainers to maintain composure and perspective during wartime. **Left cartoon**: Shows two men in formal dress at what appears to be a social gathering, likely depicting the type of petty socialite the poem criticizes. **Right cartoon**: Depicts soldiers in a trench or military setting, illustrating the stark contrast between civilians' comfort and soldiers' reality. **"Frank Sanborn" obituary**: Notes his death and decades-long journalism career. **"Our Spy Department"**: Satirical advertisement humorously offering espionage services. The page's overarching theme: wartime social criticism encouraging civilian restraint and gratitude.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LGP'E:* To Confirmed Fault- Finders yee: little folk, who weep at little things, And freight the air with moaning and complaint— Who treat the slightest pangs as deadly stings And ‘neath a feather’s weight appear to faint— Think you of those brave millions who endure The bitter curse of War without a cry; Think you of that you epicure, Who rage when brought a cocktail over-dry, And you, who, being jostled by a crowd, Give vent to growls of petulance and hate, And you whose words are violent and loud When, for a moment, someone makes you wait; you have the power or Think, little folk, and let your tongues be still! KL LR. Frank Sanborn YOUNS people who die are most acutely mourned, but old people who have lived active lives leave vacancies that are more felt. Franklin B, Sanborn, who died late in February at eighty-five, had been active and incessant in deed and discourse in our world for nearly seventy years. He began in his teens as an abolitionist and friend of John Brown, and he never ceased finding things to do and doing them, and finding things to say and saying them. He has been best known the last thirty or forty years as the Boston correspondent of the Springfield Republican, to which journal he contributed two pieces a week; one about books, the other about current evénts, state charities, John Brown and his family, and the departed writers of Concord, all of whom he knew. His memory was remarkable ; his erudition extraordinary. There was nobody like him. A handsome old man, tall, thin and active much beyond the wont of fourscore years, nobody knows as much out of books as he knew, and hardly anyone remembers as much out of life as he did that is worth remembering. Peace to his venerable pen! Put the lid on his inkstand! WE offer our complete spy department to the largest bid- der. We guarantee results. If, for example, it should be discovered that secret measures are being (even now) undertaken by our government to prepare us against any enemy, we will ferret these out and expose them. There shall be no compromise. If anybody is going to do anything to help us defend our- selves, then it ought to be known. Our motto is: “ United we fall, divided we stand.” Great Moments in American History (Now Pending) EREMONY of Presenting the Iron Cross to W. J. Bryan by the Imperial German Government. Signing by President and Members of Cabinet of Articles of Subservience to the Labor Unions of United States. LESSED are the pure in pocketbook, for they shall be able to discuss questions of war and peace with a high degree of dispassionateness. comicbooks.com