Life — March 20, 1919 — page 11: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Life Magazine Page 447: Analysis **Top Cartoon:** An informative old gentleman tells a bored doughboy (WWI soldier) that a large bird at the zoo is a pelican. The doughboy replies he thought it was a canary the whole time. This is a simple visual joke about mistidentification—the bird's enormous bill makes it obviously a pelican, not a canary, mocking the doughboy's lack of observation. **"Uncalled-for Pessimism" Article:** Reviews Morrison J. Swift's book "Can Mankind Survive?" The piece humorously catalogs pessimistic bestsellers (Philadelphia Sunday, women's fashion books, etc.), arguing that even ants and bees demonstrate intelligence and survival capability. This mocks contemporary doom-and-gloom literature as overwrought. **Bottom Comic:** Shows domestic chaos—a returning husband observes his wife's housekeeping disorder, complaining there's too much disorder.