Life, 1918-02-14 · page 14 of 40
Life — February 14, 1918 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three separate pieces of commentary and satire: 1. **"Will Poets Survive?"** - An essay arguing that poets will endure despite the decline of poetic meter in modern publishing, as free verse becomes increasingly common. 2. **"A Good Bill: Push It Along"** - Commentary supporting Clifford Pinchot's Water-Power bill before Congress, praising its conservation principles for public water resources. 3. **"Sunday-School Teacher"** - A brief humorous dialogue where a teacher asks Jimmy about his father's business motto ("It is more blessed to give than to receive"), and Jimmy replies his father is a "prize-fighter." The joke mocks the disconnect between moral teachings and actual professions. The accompanying illustration, captioned "When the Feminist Gets the Vote," depicts a woman in what appears to be a dungeon or cellar, satirizing anxieties about women's suffrage and social change.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
254 Will Poets Survive? ‘OR some time it has been apparent that the world’s supply of metre was growing appreciably less. At pres- ent there is scarcely enough poetic metre to go around. Many poets have, indeed, had resort to free verse. Poetic metre comes-in feet, and is sold to magazines and newspapers in varying lengths. Latterly there have heen a great many substitutes offered in the form of just-as-good-as metres. But this is not the worst. As metre becomes less, our poetry becomes more abundant. When metre was scarce and of high quality, the number of poets was small. Now that metre is hecom- r, the number of poets is in- sing by leaps and bounds. Every- body writes poetry, hut nobody has any metre. Thus we are rapidly coming to a metreless poetry age. But of course the poets will survive this. What is metre to a modern poet —and particularly to a modern Amer- ican poet? A Good Bill: Push It Along IFFORD PINCHOT endorses the administration Water-Power bill, devised by Secretaries Houston, Baker and Lane for the protection and use of the fifty million horse-power still con- trollable by the government. This hill is now (January 22d) he- fore the House. Mr. Pinchot says: “It is an admirable measure, drawn with thorough knowledge and skill. The principles essential for the wise use and development of our public water- powers in the public interest are all embodied in it.” Mr. Pinchot invites all friends of conservation to support this bill and “see to it that it is passed without emasculation, substitution or postpone- ment.” UNDAY - SCHOOL TEACHER: Now, Jimmy, I want you to memo- rize to-day’s motto, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Jisay: Yes'm, but I know it now. My father says he has always used that as his motto in his business. Teacuer: Oh, how noble of him! And what is his business? Jina: He's a prize-fighter, ma'am. \ 2 ASAE WHEN THE FEMINIST GETS THE VOTE