Life, 1919-07-10 · page 43 of 50
Life — July 10, 1919 — page 43: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page combines satirical poetry with a tobacco advertisement. **Left side — "The Ballad of Reading Matter":** A humorous poem by George S. Chappell mocking a commuter's desperation for morning newspapers. The narrator boards a train without his paper and becomes so anxious that he desperately attempts to read other passengers' papers—including stealing one from a sleeping youth and being offered a "saffron sheet" (likely a sensationalist tabloid) by a fellow traveler. The satire targets American newspaper addiction and the social anxiety of missing the daily news, a major concern in early 20th-century urban culture. **Right side — Velvet Tobacco Advertisement:** Features two men discussing fishing and tobacco. The ad emphasizes Velvet's lack of "bite"—positioning smoothness as a selling point against competitor products that caused harsh sensations. The product cost 15 cents and was made by Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co. The juxtaposition is typical of Life's format: satirical editorial content paired with period advertising, both reflecting contemporary American consumer culture and anxieties.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
un- rite uns ne. my The Ballad of Reading Matter NE day, one gentle day of spring. I sat upon a train, Aod marked the swallows on the wing With numb, unbalanced brain, For I had done a hideous thing, Which 1 will now explain At early dawn that lovely day, Beside a flickering taper, I robed myself in brave array, With eye and heart a-caper. Then, IDIOT! I rushed away Without my morning paper! Before me crouched a traveling gent, Bush-browed and triple-neck’d, O'er whose unconscious bulk I bent, This headline to detect: Lammas BEND Abashed, I stole a backward glance, In hopes that I should see A Times, a Tribune or, perchance, A Sun—Ah, miseric! DIRSOXIZ TETPAKOZION Was more than Greek to me. 1 A youth beside me sweetly dozed, | Whose paper, loosely held, I deftly filched while he reposed, Whereat my soul rebelled. INICZACY PIEKARSKI © I read—or rather, yelled. My neighbors fled in wild retreat, Save one of Saxon breed, Who, calmly rising from his seat, Made offer of a screed. O Death! It was a saffron shcet I'd sworn I'd never read. George S. Chappell. HOW ONE OF THE NEIGHBOR'S CHILDREN 4 APPEARS TO YOU IN YOUR GARDEN ty: hit, Ce AN, Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co. “Same here—When I go fishin’ I want fish that bite, and tobacco that don’t.”’ apt Got “Bite” in tobacco comes either from poor leaf or wrong “ripening.” 1m We use for VELVET only the finest, silkiest Kentucky Burley. But we don’t stop there. We put the tobacco away in wooden hogsheads for two years—for Nature to pa-. tiently ripen and mellow. ! The VELVET way costs more —but it makes the friendlier kind of tobacco. No bite, no kick, no harshness—just friendly. Open a tin of VELVET. You will find it just right—“good enough to eat.” comicbooks.com.