Life, 1919-06-19 · page 10 of 42
Life — June 19, 1919 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a biographical sketch titled "Colonel Bacon" alongside a cartoon. The illustration shows an elderly man in a wheelchair speaking with three well-dressed gentlemen outside a house, while a young child stands nearby. The caption quotes the centennarian: "Yes, I've drank an' smoked an' did as I dang pleased for a hundred years, an' that's more'n you young fellers'll ever git a chanst t' say!" The satire mocks turn-of-the-century health concerns and moral anxieties. The cartoon presents a long-lived man who openly defied contemporary rules about temperance and virtue, suggesting these restrictions may be unnecessary—or at least that living a "sinful" life doesn't guarantee early death. This challenges the era's moralizing about proper behavior and longevity.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
centenarians YES, VVE DRANK AN’ SMOKED AN’ DID AS 1 DANG PLEASED FER A HUNDRED YEARS, AN’ TILAT'S MOKE’N YOU YOUNG PELLERS'LL IVER GIT A CHANST T’ say! t offer. When we not the sort to live in the past while stripped himself the present and the future called for Colonel Bacon T was a disappointment that Robert évil employments and workers Bacon should have died so prema- 4¢ 3 itary commission Bacon's career was like something turely, When he came home a month | ame nearer breaking th a story-hook. Nature endowed 1 ago from two years of engrossing ac- Bacon's while we stayed out; no hes with manly comeliness in so unusual tivity on General Per x's staff ng blithelier for joy than his when we — degree that it seemed almost incredibly Fra following two previous years in. When he ran for the nomina- that a man so equipped for the dece of 3 equal activity in the same a Calder, he ran ration of life could also be usefu cau a private helper of the Frenchy asa France, and in high concerns. But Bacon. in one wished for him all the satisfac ‘ oor three weeks — sisted upon being equal to his o« ould come from the memos © apaign, he nearly won the si He was put into great plac labors, He had ne but he filled them he that sen will wht thought he comicbooks.com