Life, 1919-01-23 · page 29 of 42
Life — January 23, 1919 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Section - "The Salute to Joan of Arc":** This celebrates January 6th's 500th anniversary of Joan of Arc's birth. A New York Joan of Arc committee secured Secretary of the Navy Daniels's approval to fire a ceremonial gun salute from warships in New York Harbor. The text notes the irony: America's modern military officially honored someone whose authority came from supernatural visions—a remarkable endorsement of the supernatural. The author cites Mark Twain's positive biography, arguing Joan was either genuinely inspired, self-deceived, or a "successful faker" whose legacy lasted five centuries. **Bottom Section - "His Own System":** A satirical business dialogue. A solicitor pitches an efficiency system promising to save 50% of the businessman's time. The businessman interrupts irritably, claiming he already has a system saving 100% of both their time—then dismisses the solicitor ("Good-day!"). The joke: by refusing to listen and ending the conversation, he's "saved" maximum time, rendering the solicitor's pitch pointless through sheer rudeness.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
MANY HAPPY RETURNS” The Salute to Joan of Arc BECAUSE truth is stranger than fietion, fietion is often used to make truth plausible. ANUARY sixth was the five hundred and seventh anni- versary of the birth of Joan of Arc. There is a Joan of \re committee in New York, and they got the approval of Secretary Daniels to their s tion of firing a salute to Joan from guns of warships in New York harbor. That was a very interesting endorsement of the super- natural, rather long coming, but timely when it came. Joan relied frankly on the supernatural. All her activities were the outcome of the visions which inspired and instructed her, There is nothing in modern history like her story. Either her visions were real and came out of the beyond, or else she was deceived about them, or else she was a suc- cessful faker. But it is a mighty good fake that lasts five hundred years is saluted by an American battleship in New York har- . nm was no cheat. Mark Twain, whose judgment ut fakes was fairly good, wrote a whole book about Joan, who had captured his good heart the salute was for Joan of Are and all she stood for. ng the supernatural visions and free His Own System OLICITOR (to business man absorbed in detail): have here a most marvelous system of efficiency, con- densed into one small volume. It will save you fully fifty per cent. of your time, and so— Bustnrss MAN (interrupting irritably): 1 already have a system by which I can save one hundred per cent. of my ne and yours. I'll demonstrate it now—Good-day! comicbooks.com