Life, 1918-08-15 · page 22 of 36
Life — August 15, 1918 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains allegorical and humorous commentary likely from WWI era. **"The Justice of the Elements"** (main text): A moral fable depicting a "Criminal with a Crown"—apparently a wartime leader—rejected by nature itself. Earth, Sea, Air, and Fire successively refuse to shelter him, each having been corrupted by his violence. The piece, attributed to Henry Van Dyke, uses biblical language to suggest divine judgment against a militaristic ruler whose crimes are so profound that even the elements condemn him. **Left cartoon ("A Guilty Conscience")**: Shows a figure in an institutional setting, appearing anxious or remorseful, suggesting internal moral struggle. **Right cartoon ("An Abandoned Farmer")**: Depicts rural figures, possibly commenting on agricultural disruption caused by war or conscription. **"Up to Him"** section: Three brief satirical exchanges mocking academic distance from war, and romantic distraction—light social humor contrasting with the page's weightier moral themes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
"EAP IE: * The Justice of the Elements O the Criminal with a Crown came to the end of his doings. He told his last lie, but not even his servants would believe it. He made his last threat, but no living soul feared it. He put forth his last stroke of violence and cruelty, but it fell short. When he saw his own image reflected in the eyes of men, and knew what he had done to the world and what had come of his evil design, he was afraid, and cried, “ Let the Earth swallow me!” And the Earth opened, and swallowed him, But so great was the harm that he had wrought upon the Earth, and so deeply had he drenched it with blood, that it could not contain him. So the Earth opened again, and cast him forth. Then he cried, “ Let the Sea hide me!” And the waters rolled over him. . But the Sea, whereon he had wrought iniquity, and filled the depths thereof with the bones of the innocent, could not endure him and threw him out upon the shore as refuse, Then he cried, “Let the Air carry me away!" And the A GUILTY CONSCIENCE AN ABANDONED FARMER strong winds blew, and lifted him up so that he felt exalted. But the pure Air of heaven, wherein he had let loose the vultures of hate, dropping death upon helpless women and upon harmless babes, found the burden and the stench of him intolerable, and let him fall. ‘ And as he was falling he cried, “Let the Fire give me a refuge!” So the Fire, wherewith he had consumed the homes of men, rejoiced; and the ames which he had com- pelled to do his will as weapons of wickedness leaped up as he drew near. “Welcome, old master!” roared the Fire. “Be my slave!" Henry Van Dyke. Up to Him “DROFESSOR, if you wish your lectures to be a success, then you'll have to go to the front yourself.” “But [ read the papers and see all the pictures of the hat is not enough. The misinformation you have to convey must be purely personal.” “wre won the ball game to-day “T dunno, I took a girl. When the game ended I had only managed to explain things as far as the seventh inning.”