Life, 1918-07-11 · page 11 of 34
Life — July 11, 1918 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Illustration:** "At the Red Cross Benefit" depicts a military band performing at a fundraising event, with civilians gathered around. This reflects WWI-era charity efforts to support the Red Cross. **Bottom Illustration & Text:** The piece titled "Queer!" satirizes pacifism during wartime. It mocks someone's proposal to send an unarmed hospital ship to Germany, questioning who would risk women's lives on such a venture. The dialogue then shifts to mock "naval pacifists"—those opposed to warfare—defining one as someone who "plants depth bombs for the purpose of spreading oil on the troubled waters." This is wordplay suggesting pacifists contradict themselves by supporting military action. The illustration of a woman at the shore, captioned "The Lass That Loved A," appears unrelated to the main satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
a AT THE RED CROSS BENEFIT “KEEP THE HOME FIRES BURNING,” =~ | THE LASS THAT LOVED A — SAILOR, SOLDIER, DOCTOR, LAWYER, SALESMAN, y CLERK, ETC. BY THE FIREMEN’S BAND Queer! HO got up that wonderful plan to send an unarmed hospital ship to Europe with notice of her start to Germany? Who has still so large an appetite for. experiments with German good- faith as to be willing to risk the lives of a lot of women in an unprotected ship? Happily, the plan has fallen through, but the point of it has never been ex- plained. “LYELL, I see that Eric has gone into service in the navy on a de- stroyer.” “Why, I thought he was a pacifist.” “He is; a naval pacifist.” “ What's a naval pacifist?” “One who plants depth bombs for the purpose of spreading oil on the troubled waters.”