Life, 1917-06-14 · page 13 of 38
Life — June 14, 1917 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains early 20th-century satirical content. The top illustration, "The Willowbys' Ward," depicts a domestic scene where Mrs. Willowby allows a tired servant ("Molly") to have breakfast in bed after a journey. Below, a "Slogans" section critiques wartime rhetoric. Colonel Watterson apparently proposed slogans for the war effort, but none succeeded. The text advocates modest, practical thinking rather than grandiose war aims. The "Uncle Ezra" dialogue jokes about rural American responses to German invasion—invoking a local constable (Eph Hoskins) to arrest "the whole durn bunch for trespassing." The small cartoon "The Man with the Hoe" shows children playing with a farming tool, likely alluding to Millet's famous painting and rural American life. The overall tone mixes domestic humor with gentle wartime commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE WILLOWBYS' WARD THINKING THAT MOLLY MUST RE WORN OUT AFTER HER JOURNEY, MRS. WILLOWBY DECIDES TO LET HER MAVE HER BREAKFAST IN BED Slogans LOGANS are the order of the day. Many cities are offering prizes for the best one. Colonel Watterson has come out with one about the Hohenzollerns, much too wicked to repeat. None of those offered up to date has been completely successful. Perhaps we are looking for too much. We wish to put into one short phrase our con- tempt for war in general, our horror of the German ma- lignity, our determination to go to the hilt, and our anxiety about our capacities. This is too ambitious. Let us be modest, and take one thing at a time. We might start off with this: “Every potato planted brings us nearer to Berlin.” U NCLE A: What would you do if you saw an army of Germans coming across your field yonder? Unctt Esen: Do? I'd have Eph Hoskins, the constable, arrest the whole durn bunch for trespassing, and I think any court in the country would back me up. E have ceased talking about the H. C. L. Hereafter we will say “the high cost of trying to live.” “THE MAN WITH THE HOE” comicbooks.com