Life — August 21, 1919 — page 22: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

**Main Image:** A photograph of children outdoors, captioned with dialogue where a child named Mabel tells his grandmother he doesn't want apple pie for dinner—an unusual refusal suggesting wartime rationing or food scarcity affecting even children's appetites. **"The French Babies" Section:** This documents LIFE magazine's charitable fundraising campaign for French war orphans during World War I. The text lists donations received (totaling approximately $149,209.80 remitted to Paris) and acknowledges individual contributors by name and amount. It appears to be a public accounting of charitable donations. **Right-side Cartoon:** Two men stand before an easel displaying a poster for "Aid Frances Relief." The caption jokes that one signs his name "prominently" to "help out the composition"—satirizing donors who contribute primarily for public recognition and credit rather than genuine charitable impulse. **Overall Context:** The page contrasts genuine wartime humanitarian need (orphans, rationing) with the satirical observation that charitable giving often serves donors' vanity as much as victims' welfare.