Life, 1918-08-29 · page 8 of 34
Life — August 29, 1918 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct humorous pieces: **"A Warning"** (top): A nonsensical poem mocking extinct animals with made-up names like "Rhino-potto-gator" and "Chimp-oranga-dillo." The joke warns against laughing at these creatures, implying their extinction resulted from mockery—absurdist humor. **"Diary of a 'Hand'"**: A working-class man laments earning only $15 weekly, which he spent on a diamond ring. Now facing expenses for mansion furnishings, he demands higher wages—likely satirizing labor disputes and workers' economic struggles. **"Grandpa Reads a Hair-Raising Story"** (comic strip): Shows an elderly man reading to what appears to be a fearful child, with the child's reactions growing increasingly distressed across panels—visual humor about scary bedtime stories. The page reflects early 20th-century concerns about labor, consumer culture, and family entertainment.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Ex-Golfer: CONFOUND IT! ToPPED AGAIN! Diary of a “Hand” The Beginning HINK of me making more'n a hun- dre! eck, and before three dol- lars a day was me limit, and even then idle most of the time! Thought me wife a diamond ring to- day, Fifteen dollars I paid for it. It's the first one she ever had. Then I went back and changed it for one that ¢ twenty dollars. There's no use The best is none too good a! But we're i a swell mansion, And me wife has a polky dot! It’s something grand, this war. I'm getting me a gold watch M. hs Later rra! T dunno what we are go- What with the new furni- ture and the diamonds of me wife's and the swell clothes, it's costing me all ec, and more, There’s but wan to do. I must have more money: Think of me workin’ like I do for a hundred dollars a week! I'll call the boys together to-night, and Begorra! we'll go out on strike Monday. The Brand “AYHAT sort of an Irishman is Mur- phy?” “Made in Germany.” ‘LJ PB * A Warming HE, Rhino-potto-gator and the Alli-hippo-dile And the Kanga-ceros-porcu-phanti-raffe Had never, from their infancy, unbended in a smile, A giggle, or a snicker, or a laugh. So, when upon the rid; of the Pleistocene they saw The Chimp-oranga-dillo-wanda-linct, They fatally exploded in a thunderous guffaw— And that’s why they’re so dreadfully extinct. Then learn to laugh a little (you will find it worth your while), And shun the fate that smote with cruel gaff The Rhino-potto-gator and the Alli-hippo-dile And the Kanga-ceros-porcu-phanti-raffe. “L)O you believe in prohibition?” “Im not able to judge. I've always lived in Maine. GRANDPA READS A HAIR-RAISING STORY