Life, 1920-01-08 · page 30 of 44
Life — January 8, 1920 — page 30: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains satirical content about deception in civilized society. **"Lies" (poem by Sophie E. Redford):** A comprehensive critique of everyday dishonesty—from white lies protecting loved ones to grand fabrications. It catalogs various social deceptions: press agents' exaggerations, romantic fabrications, political ballot-stuffing, and false cheerfulness about illness. The poem suggests hypocrisy is woven into "civilized" life itself. **"Booming Business" (sketch):** Shows a Black woman ("mammy" stereotype) visiting a Southern post office. She humorously explains she patronized the office despite low expectations, having traveled from White Hill to visit her daughter. The humor plays on the contrast between her modest circumstances and the formal postal service setting. **"The Painter's Progress" (comic strip):** Depicts sequential panels of a man painting a wall, progressively losing balance or control—visual comedy about incompetence or mishap. The page's overall theme connects: lies permeate society, from grand deceptions to small courtesies, framed within period racial stereotypes now considered offensive.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
78 “LIFE: Lies HIS life, as we civilized beings must live it, Politely solicits the lie—and—we give it. Good people run crosswise or else on the bias, And so we've Sapphira, likewise Ananias. How often it is that the smile we are wearing But hides a faint heart that is sick with desp We cover our patches with merry bravado; We live in a hovel and talk El Dorado. There's the lie that we tell with remarkable fitness, When to shield a loved one we would bear a false witness, There’s the chivalrous lie that we tell for the ladies, And for ourselves when we fear we'll get—hades! There's the press-agent’s yarn—it is somewhat pedantic— And the sweet fabrication of lovers romantic There's the nursery tale—'tis a precious invention— And the legerdemain with its sly circumvention. There's the strategem played by the army commander, And the fraudulent fibs told when fair ones philander. There's the trite “ Not-at-home” to the unwelcome peddler, And the falsification we give to the meddler. Courageous delusion, when illness comes stealing ; We tell everybody how “fine” we are feeling. There's spoofing, and juggling, and ballot-box. stufing Decoying, conjuring, blarneying, bluffing, Malingering, glossing, dissembling and shammin: There’s gay masquerading and pretty. flim-flam Even Truth has its cleverest interpre In the blest hocus-pocus of civilizat Sophie E. Redford. Booming Business CENE—The General Delivery window of the Post Ofhce in a Southern town. A typical negro “ mammy,” approaches the window and the following conversation ensues between the clerk and the mammy “Mawnin’, suh! Is you got any mail foh ’Riah Smith?” No—no mail for you.” ANY STREET SCENE—AS A WOMAN SEES IT “Yassah. You see, I waren't 'specting much. I lives down at White Hill, and Ise vis'tin’ mah daughter. Jes’ thought I'd patronize de office whilst T was her THE PAINTER'S PROGRESS comicbooks.com