Life, 1917-10-04 · page 28 of 44
Life — October 4, 1917 — page 28: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains multiple satirical pieces reflecting WWI-era concerns: **"A Song of Cookery"** (Clinton Scollard poem): Mocks young women ("Gwendolyn, Gladys and Mabel") who once studied arts and humanities but now obsess over cooking and food economy during wartime rationing. The satire captures the shift from peacetime leisure to domestic preparedness. **"Mind Versus Matter"** (cartoon): Two identical soldiers representing twins who believed in eugenics theory until drafted into military service—mocking the gap between intellectual ideology and lived experience. **"No Red Eagle for Gerard"**: References James W. Gerard (U.S. Ambassador to Germany), sardonically noting Germany won't honor him since he's receiving British honors instead. Reflects post-war diplomatic tensions. **"By Our Office Cynic"**: Cynical observations including a dark joke about Prohibitionists and critiques of clergy ignorance and Christian Science. **"Young Hostess" cartoon**: A guest's reply ("tea now, cocoa—later") to the hostess's attempt to end his visit suggests he's outstaying his welcome—a social humor piece.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
552 A Song of Cookery ‘OU'D think, could you hear, that the sound were a rookery ; 'Tis but some maidens who chatter of cookery, What can be raised upon ground that is arable— Gwendolyn, Gladys and Mabel and Claribel! Sooth, you might deem that their comments were comical, But they are not, they are just gastronomical ! They have each read of a possible aridness, So, one and all, they are out for preparedness— Something that’s new in the soup or the salad line, Like a poor bard who's in search for a ballad line; Something that’s cheap, although cheering and succulent, Now that food prices are troublous and truculent! To them we tender our deepest apologies, They who once studied the arts and the “ ologies,” Doted on laces and ribbons and bookery, For they have tackled the problems of cookery; Come down to earth from their stars and astronomy, And are now keen—are now keen on economy! Clinton Scollard. “NOT HALF BAD” By Our Office Cynic OME people are so slow that they would wait until the sun rose before they shot a Prohibitionist. The same argument that we use to convince ourselves that we know where we are going can he used to convince ourselves that we know where we came from. Yet we still go on knowing that we don’t know where we were, and believing that we will know what we will be. The ignorance that the average clergyman has of life in general could only be acquired by long practice. Christian Science, if it ever came to trial, would surely be indicted in every Anglo-Saxon court of law, for its chief merit is that it deprives us of the pleasure we get in con- vincing the other man that there is a hell MIND VERSUS MATTER THE TWINS WERE ENTHUSIASTIC BELIEVERS IN THE THEORY OF EUGENICS UNTIL THEY WERE DRAFTED No Red Eagle for Gerard -A NYBODY who objects to Mr. Gerard's receiving the embellishment of the Bath, or something, from the King of England should recognize how slim his chances have become of receiving any token of gratitude or affec- tion from the Kaiser. The more his memoirs come out, the less Germany seems to be owing him. Young Hostess (anxious to be rid of lingering guest): WHICH WILL YOU HAVE, TEA OR COCOA? Guest: TEA NOW, COCOA—LATER. comicbook isang