Life, 1919-11-20 · page 24 of 46
Life — November 20, 1919 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes **Prohibition**, the recently enacted ban on alcohol sales in America. The lead article, "Tea for the Tired Feeling," mocks the transition from saloons to tea rooms and coffee houses as replacements for bars. It notes Americans are unfamiliar with tea as a restorative drink (the English use it better for this purpose) and jokes that establishments formerly dedicated to serving liquor are scrambling to rebrand as food venues. The satire suggests this substitution is foolish—tea cannot truly replace alcohol's appeal. "Poetical Readjustments" extends the joke by imagining how classic poems must be rewritten for Prohibition America. Lochinvar's romantic invitation becomes "drink one lemonade," and James Whitcomb Riley's nostalgic verse about frost gains a reference to "shudder's in the frock"—presumably nervous anxiety replacing cozy consumption. The cartoon "The Rogue's Gallery" (lower left) depicts a storefront decorated with hearts—likely a speakeasy or illicit establishment—showing how criminal enterprises emerged to circumvent Prohibition. The poem "Logic" appears unrelated social commentary on perseverance.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
866 ‘LIFE Tea for the Tired Feeling THe saloons are going fast. Most of them have gone— the rest will soon follow. The earners lately dedicated to liquid refreshment are now experimenting with other Watch them and see how they do. ir best bet at present seems to be food. Confection- i lunch rooms and tea rooms, increase in the land. We may see a revival of coffee houses. The talent and capital lately engaged in getting * drinks into people is now busy making non-intoxicating refreshments attractive. No doubt, with brisk competi- tion, it will have an excellent effect on cooking and food. A great deal may be done with tea. Handled with real talent and provided for people who come from work, it ought to pick up a fair share of the old five o'clock or six o'clock cocktail bus Average Americans are ac- quainted with tea as a decoration of meals, but they don’t know much about it as a pick-me-up for tired people. The English know it in that capacity much better. It is the best substitute for alcohol. Poetical Readjustments iv is hard to keep the old poets up to the times, but well- directed effort will do sometimes. “Lochinvar” in new American editions will have to say: ;, And now I am come to this all-but lost maid, To tread but one shimmy, drink one lemonade. And the revised Riley will doubtless read: When the frost is on the punkin, And the shudder's in the frock. TIME TO WAKE UP Logic SOMETIMES there is surplus of shadows— And it’s hard (devilish hard!) to find sun, But if we persist in our efforts, At all times the thing can be done! We're apt to surrender too easy, And whine of how badly we fare. But sun’s what it takes to make shadow— So surely the sun must be there. And ours be the blame if we lose it Though oft we ca y For the people who d Are the people too teous to pray! It's he who must lose in the long run, Who's not enough courage to dare. For sun's what it takes to make shadow So always—the sun must be there! THE ROGUE'S GALLERY Joseph Andrew Galahad. comichooks.