Life, 1919-09-04 · page 14 of 48
Life — September 4, 1919 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct pieces: 1. **Top illustration** ("All the world's a stage"): A satirical drawing showing figures performing on a globe, illustrating the theatrical nature of global affairs. 2. **Main text** by E.S. Martin discusses spiritualism and automatic writing—contemporary interest in séances and psychic phenomena. The author expresses curiosity about these practices while noting they remain controversial and require investigation rather than prejudice. 3. **Bottom cartoon**: A domestic scene captioned "She: you know, Jack, I always speak as I think. He: yes, dear—only oftener." This satirizes marital dynamics, humorously suggesting wives talk excessively. 4. **Right sidebar** titled "That Awful Moment" presents a military anecdote about awarding the Distinguished Service Cross, with understated humor about bureaucratic timing.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
* All the world’s a stage” are extremely curious will be admitted by most people who read them (vide Dr. Jacks in the August sItlantic), but how or whence they come, whether from the subconscious minds of mediums or by telepathic communication from minds of other living persons, or out of the minds of the questioners who receive them, or from the spirits of the dead, is all still matter of discussion, investigation and dispute. For anyone who ca which these writings come and the difficulties that attend the getting of them, “The Seven Purposes” is as good a hook as any; but quite as interesting, and to many people s to know about the process by more so, are the two Glastonbury Abbey hooks sponsored ly Mr. Cram, “The Gate of Awakening” and “The Hill of Vision.” They are quite out of the ordinary run of the spiritist literature. No one need be dismayed at wanting to know more about contemporary spiritism and the automatic writings. They are mighty queer, and in any but the flounder type of mind that likes to lie still on the bottom and look like mud, they are bound, if known, to excite immense curiosity, But very many people still know nothing about them. Presently some conclusion about them will he reached, but it will he based not on prejudice but on knowledge, and the knowl- edge it must rest on seems to E, S. Martin yas She: you KNow, JACK, I AYS SPEAK AS L THINK He: yes, DEAR—ONLY OFTENER, THE SMUGGLERS’ CAVE—1920 That Awful Moment “QO you won the Distinguished Service Cross for con- spicuous bravery in extreme danger. Didn't you feel shaky?" “Not until I lined up for the general to pin it on me.”