Life, 1920-02-12 · page 12 of 44
Life — February 12, 1920 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two unrelated pieces. The top essay, "Humor and Dreams" by Vincent V. M. Beede, discusses why we find humor in dreams and whether certain humorless people might laugh while sleeping. It's philosophical rather than satirical. Below is a cartoon labeled "Fact and Fancy" showing a man in period costume (possibly 18th century) with a woman, captioned: "I wonder if that's a Cupid's arrow. More likely a redskin's." The joke appears to mock romantic pretension by suggesting what looks like Cupid's arrow might actually be a Native American weapon—substituting crude reality for romantic fantasy. The page also includes a poem "I Sing to Her" by Clinton Scollard and decorative illustrations.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Humor and Dreams HY do we have no sense of humor while we are dreaming? And why do we take almost everything as a matter of course? In our waking moments we should be surprised if a fat Chinese guest were to swim like a goldfish through the dining-room where Lloyd George is gratefully eat- ing a mud-pie brought in by a little girl whose hair is done up in cight pig- Is; and a tailor is applying an im- mense flatiron to the coat which its owner is wearing while he is smoking a saxophone; and a swarthy man is chopping up books and cording them in the center of the room. Perhaps we do laugh while we dream, and then forget that we laughed. It is difficult for most of us to make a synopsis of a recent dream, but from such ma- terial as we can patch together, there ought to emerge enough nonsense to wring, one smile per annum from our dreaming selves. It is humiliating to feel that we have gained so little amusement out of all those hours—per- haps years—that we have spent in dreams. Another disquieting thought. Is it possible that certain persons, whom we have credited with having no sense of humor, are so constructed that they laugh at us while they are asleep? Yes, we have distinctly heard un- humorous people laugh at such times. Who knows but that snoring may be a subtle form of laughter? Vincent V. M. Beede. een FACT AND FANCY “1 WONDER IF THAT'S A CUPID'S ARROW.” “ MORE LIKELY A REDSKIN’S.” OUT OF SEASON I Sing to Her I SING to her, now wild winds whine Amid the branches of the pine, The mirror of whose eyes betray The wayside violets of May, Whose cheeks are like the eglantine. To her who loves the lightsome line Where loving fancies intertwine, Who lends her ear unto my lay— I sing to her! 1 beg your aid, O Muses nine That I may send some fitting sign Of my devotion on this day To wooers dedicate for aye, To her—my sweetheart—Valentine! I sing to her! Clinton Scollard. ST. VALENTIN comicbooks.com