Life, 1918-09-19 · page 8 of 34
Life — September 19, 1918 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a sketch titled "Her First Love Affair" depicting a soldier and young girl in a rural landscape. The accompanying story "That Boy Next Door" is a humorous domestic narrative about a woman whose complaints about her neighbor are endless—blaming him for everything from papers on the lawn to a cat's bruise to broken windows. The joke is that she obsessively fixates on this neighbor as the source of all her household mishaps and cooking disasters, even when logic suggests otherwise. The page also includes "Life's Fresh Air Fund" listing donations to send poor city children to the countryside—a genuine charitable cause. A separate humor section features "First Private" jokes about military life. This reflects early 20th-century American magazine content mixing satire, domestic comedy, and philanthropic appeals.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
404 LIFE’S Fresh Air Fund e's Fees Ate Fuxp irty-one years. In ded $168,071.31 and has country t2 39193 that ti cna fi foor city children. Reta Witherbec Frances Coonley Blakely Corner, No'Y.. School Morse. I Henderso: Robinson, Par ‘egory Robinson, tle Reed onan “In memory of E. Irs, Halt N. Churchill A Friend . CB. Paulus o.oo... Miss’ Ho HL Stantey: J. W. Hill. D. Freeman’. Mary Allen ...0- Mrs. J. W. Bolton Harvey R. Denton i Dorothy Shipley... “Marching Song for Van 14.00 Fo8 10.00 10.00 by Henry “J . New York City $11,031.7 ACKNOWLEDGED wETH Package of children’s clo Luce, Bayville, New York Package of ‘children’s clothing from Mrs. John Holloway, Winchester, Ky Package of books from ‘Sydney Fredericksburg, V ing from E. De Sulliv Surer:xtexpest “Live's” Fast. My Dear Sir and Children: Will you please thank the boy nd girls of Live's Farm for the two barrels of crab apples which they gave to the Red Cross. Lam sure they will be interested to learn that they were bought for ten dollars by a member of the Red Cross and given to the National League for Women's Serv- ice, to be made into jelly and jam for our soldiers. Not one apple will be wasted, and the poor soldiers will be more than glad to know who gave these crab apples. Yours cordial. M. R. Lew1s,’ Chairman. 1d, Conn., August 21, 1918. IRST PRIVATE (over there ata rest station): There's a bishop coming to preach to us at nine in’ the morning and a vaudeville star to dance for us at ten. Seconp Private: ten, Ridge Wake me up at HER FIRST LOVE That Boy Next Door NCE woman who seasoned her break- upon a time there live fast, found food for conversation dur- ing the day, forgot to enjoy her dinner, and still found the subject interesting in the evening, in complaining about That Boy Next Door. If there was a paper on the lawn, if there was a peach less on her trees, if the cat had a stone bruise, if a window pane was broken, and if anything from garret to basement wrong, she was always sure to blame it on That Boy Next Door. Even her blunders in cooking were laid on him, for how can a woman re member just how much of baking pow- der to use when disturbed by the noise made by That Boy Next Door? Every- thing was salted twice and peppered was APPA three times because of That Boy Next Door. Then, one fine morning, he marched away to war, and now the woman de- nies herself dainties that she may send him cake and fudge, and every spare moment is devoted to knitting for him. He is the first in her prayers in the morning, and the last in her thoughts at night, and she sces the messenger boy approach with a contraction of the heart, and gets on her knees in thank- fulness when he passes by. And she sons her breakfast, finds food for conversation during the da forgets to enjoy her dinner, and finds the subject of interest in the evening, in praising That Boy Next Door. Typographical Error ? THe Hun, Robt. M. La Follette.