Life, 1919-07-31 · page 32 of 40
Life — July 31, 1919 — page 32: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**"The Regular"** is a poem satirizing the plight of career Army soldiers after WWI. The speaker is a pre-war Regular Army enlistee who joined when military service was unglamorous ("fifteen per" pay, no social prestige). Now that the war is over and drafted soldiers return home as heroes, he worries the public will forget regular soldiers who stayed in the service. The satire mocks both public fickleness and the regulars' anxiety—they want recognition but fear being abandoned once peace arrives. **"The Spirit of Non-Stop Flights"** is absurdist satire mocking contemporary aviation enthusiasm. It presents Denis Leary's "non-stop flight" from the second to first floor of a clubhouse as if it were a major aviation achievement—complete with precise timing discrepancies and bruising—ridiculing how the public sensationalizes mundane events when aviation is fashionable. The three cartoons below illustrate life transitions: medical training, recovery, and marriage, suggesting the passage from profession to civilian domesticity.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
"LIFE: Che Regular ain't a bloomin’ foot, you bet that Tommy sees!) (1 And Tomm. "M one of the Regular Army men, enlisted before the war, When fifteen per was the pay we got—an’ learned to be soldiers for— I joined in the days when Olive Drab was lackin’ in real éclat, An’ it wasn't often a doughboy found a “welcome” upon the mat. I'm a hero now, an’ the ladies bow, an’ it's pleasant enough, an’ yet It’s worryin’ me how long ‘twill be till the people again forget ! “ Only a common soldier.” That's wh Tho’ they must of seen I was straight and clean The same as I am to-day. I looks at the flags a- , I thinks of them times that's past, in’ I'm sayin’: “ Yes, it is fine, I guess, they used to say How long is it gonna last?” The National Guard comes homeward Teuts, The drafted men get their papers an’ put on their civvie suits; They all of them done their portion, we regulars done the fightin’ the ugly same, But gotta go on playin’ the steady old army game. They finished their bit, all right be lost, An’ the regular force gets cheers, of course, but—I have my "quit; their glory will not fingers crossed! “ Only a common sold: It used to be said of them bygone years. I'm a social lion in’ it while T can Till the graft goes bust A Regular Army man Al roughneck brute in a bh A Regular Army man!” Berton Bromyde: NOW WE MUST ALL TURN TO PEACE PURSUITS AND HAMMER THE SWORDS INTO PLOUGHSHARES. “ NOBODY DISPUTES THAT. IT IS HAMMERING THE CORKSCREW INTO A TEASPOON THAT GETS MOST OF US.” The Spirit of Non-Stop Flights 'O Denis Leary, the intrepid underwear salesman, goes the honor of having made the first non-stop flight from the second floor of the Iderdown clubhouse to the first and main floor. This was the first non-stop trip in the clubhouse since the first of July. Part of the time he flew upside down. Forty minutes after ten o'clock Frid: night the big underwear salesman landed on the rug near the umbrella- stand in the lower hall. He made the flight in the remark- able time of fifty seconds flat, having left the second floor at noon by the clubhouse clock, which is standing; 10:39-10 hy Harry Schuler’s watch. The average speed was far above the average. This was about one hundred and twenty carpeted steps a minute. Mr. Leary was in good spirits, but somewhat bruised and (Continued on page 213) A THREE-YEARS'’ TRAINING A THREE-WEEKS’ CASE AND— A THREE-MINUTE CEREMONY comicbooks.comias