Life, 1917-06-28 · page 7 of 39
Life — June 28, 1917 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a poem titled "Honey" by Charlotte Becker, followed by a cartoon about geography homework. **The Cartoon:** A young boy named Willie shows his map to two adult men (likely his father and teacher). The adults praise the map's quality, but one notes: "Your map is well drawn, Willie, but you've left out Germany." Willie responds he made it for his friend Eddie, who "doesn't take up geography till next year." **The Satire:** This is a mild joke about a child's deliberate incompleteness—Willie intentionally omitted Germany from his map to simplify it for a younger student. The humor relies on the boy's practical logic versus adult expectations of thoroughness. There's no apparent political commentary, just gentle satire about childhood reasoning.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ITHERED the rose and dead the rue That in Sicilian gardens grew, Which once Theocritus made rife With rustic lore and lyric life. And gone those later gardens still Where Tuscan poets dreamed their fill. No lovers guard the rim-shorn, bare Gates that now open to nowhere. Let bees in search of fragrant brew, Faring a ruined pleasaunce through, Find in some single lonely bloom Stored centuries of rare perfume. As we whose thoughts roam down the ways, Those golden rhymes were wont to praise, Glean, too, some lingering sweet from these Ghost-gardens of fair memories. Charlotte Becker. “YOUR MAP IS WELL DRAWN, WILLIE, BUT YOU'VE LEFT OUT GERMANY.” “YES, 1 MADE IT FOR EDDIE, HE DOESN'T TAKE UP GEOGRAPHY TILL NEXT YEAR.”