Life, 1919-12-04 · page 26 of 80
Life — December 4, 1919 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three separate satirical pieces typical of early 20th-century Life magazine humor: **Top cartoon**: A charity collector asks a husband for hospital donations while the wife sarcastically implies he never gives money away—mocking stingy husbands and the difficulty of extracting charitable contributions. **"A Forecast" poem**: A cynical verse about a nineteen-year-old child's bleak future, suggesting life will bring disappointment, scattered virtues, broken toys, and unkept promises. It's darkly humorous social commentary on the futility of childhood optimism. **"Oblivion" joke**: A man wrote poetry on his shirt cuff and asks what to do with it; the answer is to send it to a laundry—implying the verse is worthless and should be washed away. **Bottom illustration**: Titled "When Willie Heard a Window Shutter Slam," showing a child's startled reaction, likely illustrating a humorous anecdote about childhood nervousness or misbehavior. The page reflects early 20th-century Life's characteristic blend of domestic comedy, cynicism about human nature, and gentle mockery of everyday life.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
-LIFE- YX ¥ a “MADAM, I'D LIKE TO SPEAK TO YOUR HUSBAND, I WANT TO ASK HIM FOR A CONTRIBUTION TO THE HOSPITAL FUND,” “VERY WELL, AND IF YOU DO GET ANY MONEY OUT OF HIM, LET ME KNOW HOW YOU Do IT.” A Forecast OOR little nine If you knew what awaits you, You'd die discouraged at your birth; For whilst one toasts and fétes you, You are despoiled of everything— Good luck, high hopes and bright- n-twenty child, ness: Your virtues, treasures, secrets rare Are scattered wide with lightness ; And in your name, bestowals made Hold you to harsh accounting Should any slip ’twixt cup and lip In sorrow be amounting. The birthday dower you never see Is spent for toys soon broken, Good resolutions seldom kept, And kind words left unspoken. M. BL H. HERE the man some woman who'd be hurt if told her baby did not look like him. exists for homeliest % v THE DARE Oblivion be ROTE a ballad on my cuff the other day. would you advise me io do with it?” “Send it to a laundry.” What WHEN WILLIE HEARD A WINDOW SHUTTER SLAM comicbooks.comy"