Life, 1917-12-13 · page 24 of 40
Life — December 13, 1917 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct pieces of satire: 1. **"The Willowby's Ward"** (top): A comic strip panel showing what appears to be a domestic scene where "the Professor does a little boxing" during a weekend party—likely satirizing upper-class amateur athleticism or pretension. 2. **"Collapsible Wall Street"** (middle): A recipe-style joke mocking Wall Street's instability, comparing financial markets to a fragile dish that collapses. This references the volatility and unreliability of stock markets—a recurring target of Life's satire. 3. **"Apprehension"** (lower left): A brief joke about a man named Bileum running for Congress, with the punchline that his worried parents saw it coming—satirizing politicians as inherently unsuitable or foolish. 4. **"How an Escaped German Prisoner Gave Himself Away"** (bottom right): A sketch showing a soldier fleeing, likely referencing WWI-era military humor about German prisoners of war. The page reflects early 20th-century concerns: financial instability, political incompetence, and wartime anxiety.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Net ahaa THE WILLOWBY'S WARD. 29 AN UNUSUALLY LARGE WEEK-END PARTY THE PROFESSOR DOES A LITTLE MING Collapsible Wall Street T! Lord first made cowards for practice, and then made Wall Street Take two cups and te well teria, Put on the Then add a pack grate a coupe nehed cheeks, an stir until the vils over. Serve hot and cold Apprehension ‘| HEAR that Bileum is going to run for Congress.” “Really? I'm not surprised. When he was a hoy they say his parents were awfully worried about him,” MOW AN ESCAPED GERMAN PRISONER GAVE HIMSELF AWAY comichooks.gom