Life, 1917-08-09 · page 26 of 42
Life — August 9, 1917 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains WWI-era American satire, circa 1917-1918. **Top cartoon**: "A Kind Lady Gives Willie a Penny to Stop Crying" depicts poor children receiving charity while soldiers fight—satirizing American unpreparedness. The caption "Ten Minutes Later" shows the same crowd, mocking delayed military mobilization. **"Be Merciful" section**: Criticizes U.S. delay in building an air service, noting "two years ago" would have been better. The joke: those responsible are "sensitive," so critics stay quiet—satire on political cowardice regarding military readiness. **"Things We Forget" list**: Mocks public amnesia about serious matters (Kaiser's speeches, Czar of Russia) while remembering trivia, reflecting wartime anxieties. **Right-side cartoon**: A fisherman asks a woman to move so he can catch a shark—she might scare it away. The humor involves the woman's innocence versus the man's double meaning. **"Latest Books" section**: Reviews William J. Locke's novel while satirizing wartime economy lectures about saving anchovy jars—mocking wealthy people being asked to practice thrift.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
TEN MINUTES LATER Be Merciful We should have been hard at work building up a military air service two years ago.—New York Times. USH! Not so loud. Certain persons of high position may be sensitive on that point. Besides, what is a little matter of two years among enemies? Things We Forget HE Kaiser's speeches. The location of the Tropic of Cap- ricorn. Umbrellas. Mr. Roosevelt's third term aspirations. That King George visited the front- line trenches. The binomial theorem. The second verse of our national hymn. Last year's novels. The Czar of Russia, ISHERMAN (as Miss Oldgirt comes for her daily dip): Would you mind bathing a bit furder up de beach, lady? I’m fishing for a shark, and you would scare him away! LADY GIVE! Y To sToP “come Now, You NE The Latest Books MERICA is learning economy. I at- tended a lecture the other day, where a young lady (who reminded me of Marie Antoinette, dairy-maiding at the Petit Trianon) demonstrated on an elec- tric stove the possibility of drying car- rots for winter use. She also urged us to save all our anchovy paste bottles, paté-de-foi-gras pots and boned capon jars to send quince jelly to the soldiers in, All empty containers, she said, ought to be carefully washed out and stowed away for future use. Otherwise, I gath- ered, we should presently be so poor that we'd have no pocketbooks to put our money in, HAD been reading William J, Locke's “The Red Planet” (Lane, $1.50), and had been pretty mournful over it. Locke used to be such a treat. In “ The Morals of Marcus Ordeyne,” and “The Beloved Vagabond,” and so on, he was so brim- full of a quizzically sophisticated Simple Simon-ness, Even his later books, di- luted and re-diluted as their material was, had suggestions of the Locke flavor. But DN'T BOTH LOOK SO INNOCENT! WHICH ONE OF You pip THIS?” comicbooks