Life, 1919-11-27 · page 7 of 36
Life — November 27, 1919 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page features a poem titled "Consolation" alongside an illustration. The poem describes someone overwhelmed by contemporary history—"Riots and strikes of which daily one reads"—seeking escape in old books. The speaker ironically plans to study obscure historical subjects (ancient Pharaohs, Greek manuscripts, stone tablets) to avoid current events. The illustration shows two figures on a park bench beneath bare trees, with the caption: "LADY IN BACKGROUND: WELL, JOHN, WE WERE JUST AS FOOLISH THIRTY YEARS AGO, THANK GOODNESS!" The satire targets those who retreat into historical study to escape present anxieties. The punchline suggests human folly is timeless—today's troubles mirror yesterday's, so historical escapism offers no real comfort. This reflects early 20th-century anxieties about social unrest and labor conflicts.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Consolation { history contempora- ne iots and strikes of which daily one reads— Secking distraction in sometk’ng extra neous, 1 began poking through olden-time screeds, Plodding through books of a sage anti quarian, lead centuries out of the past, L'il dodge all these rows pro- Here in these tomes I'll forget them at last!" Thus I had planned out a quiet scenario Made up of annals of monarchs now dust, commenced on a Pharaoh, Only to find I was suddenly thrust Into the tale of a strike on a pyramid, Like, in detail, to the ones we have now With the king's councilors trying to steer amid Labor and Capital, calming the row Soot little-known Angered, I turned to rich Nineveh, Baby- lon, Sardis, Jerusalem, Athens and Tyre, Finding red Bolshevists urging the rabble on, Fighting about who should hire them, or fir Learned translations of marks hicro- glyphical, ‘Tablets of stone or papyri of Greck, Hebrew or Latin, or ancient ponti i, 1 me of labor wars far from unique Sick and di chronic Sighing, “Oh, what is the use, any way?" Then, all at once, through my musings ironical, a thought that was joyous usted, T turned from each Loudly T laughed, “Why should folk be so serious, Dreading calamities Fate holds in When the world’s known all t weary us, Lady in Background: AGO, WELL, JOHN, WE WERE THANK GOODNESS! JUST AS FOOLISH THIRTY YEARS comicbooks.com