Life, 1918-07-18 · page 24 of 36
Life — July 18, 1918 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct pieces of satirical content: **"At Number Eleven"** (poem by Arthur Guiterman): A nostalgic meditation on newlywed poverty. The speaker romanticizes their early married life in a modest apartment, where they shared household duties and had few possessions, contrasting it with their present comfortable but somehow less fulfilling life with servants and wealth. The satire critiques materialism—suggesting that early struggle and shared labor created greater happiness than financial success. **The Briggs Joke**: A brief topical gag about a Jersey resident named Briggs. The humor references raising Hudson River transit fares to Newark and uses WWI military slang ("gone over the top," meaning charging into battle). It jokes that Briggs has repeatedly paid the increased fare—a minor contribution to the war effort. **"The Snared Spider"** (fable): An allegory contrasting Reason and Imagination. Reason travels exhaustively but returns where it started; Imagination remains still yet comprehends everything. The moral suggests imagination's superiority to mere logical effort. The illustrations complement these themes of domestic life, practical wisdom, and philosophical reflection typical of Life's genteel satirical approach.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A EAE * At Number Eleven THINK of it still as our corner of Heaven— The little apartment at Number Eleven How bravely we leased it, without one misgiving! How laughingly challenged the Problems of Living! Rejecting all counsel, and scorning the censure That elders hestowed on our reckless adventure, Like two merry children we played at housekeeping— And you did the dusting, and I did the swee No palace was ever so tastefully furnished, Nor ever was silver more ardently burnished. Our kitchen was tidy beyond a suspicion ; The table and chair in my study were Mission; A Chippendale desk was your chiefest of treasures, And few were our worries, and simple our pleasures ; Not even the dishes were ever too trying, For I did the washing, and you did the drying. We labored, we sorrowed, we triumphed together ; We mapped our own life-path, regardless of whether Our course was the same that the World was pursuing, For little we bothered what others were doing. And now we have servants and needs to employ them, And manifold comforts, and well we enjoy them; But—we were the blithest of wedded beginners When I got the breakfasts and you cooked the dinners! Arthur Guiterman, “LIAS Briggs, who lives in Jersey, done anything for his country “Oh, yes. Since they have raised the price of the Hudson tube tickets to Newark I understood he has gone over the top several times.’ $0 LONG, GRAND-DADE” The Snared Spider {AGINATION and Reason both agreed one day to go in search of Truth, Reason started off with a set face. Imagination smiled Ages rolled away. Reason, weary, haggard, appeared in the opposite direction from which he had started, and, see- ing Imagination still recumbent, approached her and said: “T see I have travelled in a circle. Where have you been, and what have you seen?” “I have not moved from Here in all these ages, and I have seen you spin the very circle around which you have travelled,” Imagination replied. A: Se Re H All women like to be loved. Sue: Yes, and all men love to be liked. WILLIE KEEPS BABY QUIET WHILE MOTHER ENTERTAINS