Life, 1918-05-02 · page 12 of 40
Life — May 2, 1918 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct pieces: 1. **"In Our Back Yard"** — A poem by Charlotte Becker about children playing in a backyard, mentioning a rooster named Ben and sister Jen planting vegetables and attending high school. 2. **"The Use and Abuse of Dynamite"** — A safety advisory from Du Pont Chemical Works warning against improper handling of dynamite as an explosive, particularly for those storing it at home. Given WWI-era concerns about sabotage, the text specifically warns against pro-German neighbors potentially misusing supplies. 3. **"Our Infant Army"** — An illustration captioned "Showing the Little Chap Around" depicting soldiers with a small child, accompanying a piece titled **"Don't Go Too Far!"** about a man held for blowing up a factory, suggesting capital punishment ("Death is the landlord of Europe"). The page reflects wartime anxieties about safety, sabotage, and military service circa 1917-1918.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
712 In Our Back Yard N our back yard—it's twelve by ten— We're raisin’ food for seven men; Leastways, my sister says it’s so. You ought to see her dig an’ hoe, An’ learn to be a citizen! But if our game old cocker Ben Starts scratchin’ after some stray hen, Things seem to get on sort o’ slow In our back yard. Yet nothin’ scares my sister Jen. She plants ‘em back once more, an’ then Takes lessons how to make 'em grow Each evening in a High School, though Just now you couldn’t feed a wren In our back yard! Charlotte Becker, The Use and Abuse of Dynamite HE Du Pont Chemical Works have issued a statement about the use of dynamite, which is well worth read- ing. It appears from this that dynamite is an explosive. In ordering your summer supply, be sure to tell the driver not to shovel it too roughly into your cellar, but deposit it on the floor as gently as possible. It is better to pick up each piece, even at the expense of a little extra time. Otherwise you might have an eternity on your hands. “ Dynamite,” truly says Mr. Du Pont, “would not make safe kindling for the kitchen stove.” If you are lay- ing in a supply for the use of the pro-Germans living in your neighbor- hood, and who may wish to employ it in ways which you do not suspect, in- struct them to be careful in getting it away from your premises. Tell them not to laugh or joke too much among themselves while handling it, as they might carelessly drop it on the floor of your garage and spoil an otherwise per- fectly good auto. Mr. Du Pont hastens to assure us, however, that there is a limit even to what dynamite may do. “A cartridge may be dropped on the soft ground from the height of the waist with safety.” He does not tell us how tall a man may be to accomplish this feat, OUR INFANT ARMY SHOWING THE LITTLE CHAP AROUND but if you are over six feet six inches in height it might be well, as an extra precaution, to stoop over a little while indulging in this playful pastime. T is now in order to suggest that the name of Petrograd, nee St. Peters- burg, be changed in accordance with its characteristic qualities to Retrograde. Don't Go Too Far! a man who is held for What H blowing up a factory. shall T say to him?” “Well, perhaps a simple apology for annoying him is all that is necessary.” D ATH is the landlord of Europe. comicbook seer