Life, 1919-10-30 · page 25 of 36
Life — October 30, 1919 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct satirical pieces: **Top cartoon:** An Irish immigrant (Pat) and an English character debate Ireland's independence. Pat refuses to return to Ireland even when it becomes a republic, claiming no place suits "a man o' my size an' build." The joke mocks Irish-Americans who romanticize Irish freedom while remaining comfortable in America—poking fun at nationalist rhetoric versus practical self-interest. **Main article:** "Was the Mayflower a Disreputable Ship?" challenges WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) claims of moral superiority. Winifred Morton allegedly proved the Mayflower was previously a shady Dutch whaler, later a slave ship—undermining Puritan ancestors' claims to purity. The satire attacks snobbish descendants of Mayflower passengers who looked down on Catholic immigrants (arriving via ships like the "City of Rome"), exposing their ancestors' actual moral compromises. **Bottom cartoon:** An unrelated domestic joke about a squeaky suit requiring oil. The page targets ethnic and class prejudice in early 20th-century America.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“l SUPPOSE, PAT, WHEN IRELAND'S LIVE THERE SURE FOR “Ol WILL NOT, SORR. PLACE Was the Mayflower a Dis- reputable Ship? THE teeming millions whose ances- tors reached these shores in the Mayflower have been much given to telling those of us whose ancestors came over in the City of Rome that all things connected with the original Delftshaven-Plymouth liner were of a highly superior purity. The Pilgrims themselves were Puri- tans, filled with purity of religion, puri- ty of spirit, purity of purpose, and all the other available purities of the time. Of marked purity in design was the vast cargo of tables, chairs, silverware and china now decorative features of A. REPUBLIC, YOU'LL Br AGAIN, WHIN OIRELAND’S FREE A MAN 0’ GOL.G BACK TO rH?” I'LL BE BUILD.” NO SORT AV MY SIZE AN’ so many thousand homes. The landfall at Plymouth was mainly a matter of pure luck. But now comes one Winifred Morton, of 14 Adelaide Road, London, England, with citations from “The Loyalists of Massachusetts” and other colorful works to prove that the Mayflower a vampire. appears, the May- flower was a Dutch whaler. But to even this straightforward trade she brought a spirit of the nefarious. She never sailed twice from the same port. She changed her name with undue frequency. So shady was her charac- ter that the authorities viewed her with a watchful eye, thus inducing her pure American 759 owner to sell her to the Pilgrim Fathers at a bottom price—a pure bar. gain, so to speak. She reformed suffi ciently to carry them and their furni ture to Plymouth Rock, but n the lure of the old gay life got her as Straight from. straight setts she went into the slave trade Her ‘tween decks, which had held the hopes of Myles Standish, became the hopeless dungeon of fettered blacka moors. On her decks in strange ing harbors, her roister puncheons of rum. Her ering in clinked doubloons and pieces of eight in his velvet pockets. She was a slaver pure and simple, but by no means simple and 1 was her inherent reck tempt for authority abide by even so mu ch as the of the slave trade. aunting thror h the Spanish Main with saucy ¢ nee of all: the co! tions, she over! ulled and sent to the bottom Spanish war galleon whose capt: a sense of propriety, clieved were reek crew drank sw unop. was le to ke obeyed. T! disaster ended her disreputable career Those of us whose ber tors came over on the prosaic City of Rome will naturally wonder why such distinctly Clite folk as the Puritan F. thers elected to travel on a bum- The problem ranks with that 0 often brooded upon by Mr. 0 “Why do they all take yy? hted ances Roland F Andrews Wife: JOHN, 1 WISH YOU WOULD GIVE YOUR NEW SUIT A THOROUGH OILING. IT SQUFAKS HORRIBLY! comicbooks.com