Life, 1918-10-31 · page 8 of 34
Life — October 31, 1918 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Cartoon:** Depicts a woman (Mrs. Van Oddes) entering what appears to be a jewelry store or establishment, while several men in formal attire observe. The caption indicates she's storing jewelry "except what is absolutely essential"—satirizing wartime sacrifice and rationing during what appears to be World War I. **Main Article:** "How I Learned to Forget" describes someone adopting a memory-loss system to cope with wartime anxiety. The writer deliberately forgets disturbing news about war costs, Liberty Bond payments, and casualty reports to maintain mental peace. **Right Section:** A brief military dialogue between a war correspondent and Captain Allyson about the Boches (German forces), plus a "Fall Fashions" cartoon about a Liberty Cap. The page satirizes both civilian wartime denial and the absurdity of maintaining normalcy during conflict.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
vr LIFE Hi 1} [il ry vl Mh IN A SPIRIT OF SELF-SACKIFICE MRS, VAN OODLES STOKES ALL OF HER JEWELRY EXCEPT WHAT IS ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL How | Learned to Forget UITE recently I made the discovery that I was be- ginning to remember >, eversthing. No mat- what and in spite 2 ter happened to me, I could do, nd 1 simply of every it lingered in my memory could not get it out of my mind. I grew from bad to worse. All the con- which I held) with half- who did not know what versations baked people they were talking about, were just as fresh the following week as on the day they were delivered. I remembered all the jokes in the newspapers, all the notes coming due, all the Liberty Bond instalments and the plots of all the stories I read. To my horror I dis- covered I was even remembering the moving pictures I saw. One day. became ac- quainted with your new system, “ How to Forget Everything,” and in a few days I was anew man. Ina short time I found myself happy and contented, gaining constantly in health and tran- quillity. Now I can read of the banali- ties of Congress in the morning and forget all about them before evening. I can read a financial statement of how much the war is costing us without its making the slightest impression on my mind. Every morning is a new day for me, because yesterday with all its hap- penings has been forgotten. Thank God for. your system. If you charge me twice as much I should consider it cheap. P. S.—I will try to remember to send you the last two instalments due, but in case you do not hear from me again 1 am sure that you will understand. however, I AR CORRESPONDENT: Did the Boches advance with any en- thusiasm?” - Cartan Autysox: Did they? should have seen them after they had been captured and were headed for the You prison pen! FALL FASHIONS Germania: 1 WONDER HOW 1 WOULD LOOK IN THIS LIBERTY CAP