Life, 1918-10-17 · page 34 of 38
Life — October 17, 1918 — page 34: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page mixes humor with advertisements from circa WWI era. The main content includes: **"Lonesome"** — A brief joke about Prohibition's effects, where a neglected outlaw misses visitors who previously tried to reform him through temperance lectures. **Santa Claus item** — A tongue-in-cheek suggestion that Life magazine subscriptions make ideal gifts for wealthy families' eldest children, implying subscription costs rival luxury items. **"Reported from Defiance, Ohio"** — A racial stereotype joke about a Black soldier, playing on dialect humor common to the period. The soldier jokes about avoiding France but potentially stopping in Berlin—the reference to WWI military movements. **Advertisements** dominate the lower portion: Bellans indigestion remedy, Waterman's Ideal Fountain Pen, Evans Ale, and Allen's Foot-Ease for soldiers. The medical illustration at bottom appears to advertise corrective surgery for cleft palate ("hare-lip"), using period medical terminology. The page reflects early 20th-century advertising aesthetics and attitudes, including casual racial caricature now considered offensive.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Nobody seems to object to prohibi- d the visitor at Crimson Gulch. ,” replied Broncho Bob, “ Three Finger Sam is right resentful. He's get- tin’ to fecl lonesome an’ neglected. It's been near six months now since anyone come around givin’ him heart-to-heart talks an’ tellin’ him wh he'd be if he'd let liqu —Washington Star. SAu4 CLAUS i ing to have a hard time of it this year to find man-power enough to supply needed gifts for everyone. It is hinted that when he visits the best families he will save labor by placing in the stocking of the oldest son or daughter an an- nual subscription to Lire. . ‘BP Made on the picturesque banks of the Huds Reported from Defiance, Ohio ade on the picturesque ban! F “Going to France?” asked a traveling where all the EVANS? products have b x : made for the past 132 years. man at the station of a negro soldier. Pasi 7 “No, sah! I'se not going to France,” / rot A i DS 6 BELLANS | replied the dusky soldier. H to Berlin, but I may stop i Hot water a showt time on de Sure Relief —New York Telegram. hk i os | ALLEN'S FOOT-EASEforSoldiersand Sailors | The Plattsburg Camp Manual suggests the daily FOR INDIGESTION | use of Foor Eas Foes Fave in the Shoes NON+INTOXICATING Upson Date Grocers, Droggists and Dealers (f A_ word in the English language with an equivalent in all civilized tongues: it was coined the day that Waterman's Ideal Fountain Pen was invented and with Waterman's Ideal has be- Come, through usage, a universal habit with writers the world over. ‘The self-contained ink supply in Watermanis (deal FountainPen Sold by even in the smaller sizes is sufficient to write thousands of words Best before refilling. feel L. E. Waterman Company, 191 Broadway, N. Y. Dr. Reynard: 1 EARNESTLY ADVISE AN Chicago San Francisco Boston IMMEDIATE OPERATION ON THIS CHILD. HB Everywhere London Paris Montreal Buenos Aires MAS A TYPICAL HARE-LIP, comicbooks.com