Life, 1920-02-19 · page 42 of 48
Life — February 19, 1920 — page 42: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains advertisements and poetry satirizing early Prohibition era America. The key content: **"Improbability" poem** by Ralph M. Thomson mocks women's refusal to apologize, using elaborate cosmic imagery (sun disappearing, earth stopping) to suggest a woman's apology is more impossible than natural laws reversing. **"Mourning for Bacchus" letter** is the page's main satire. A returning American expatriate laments Prohibition's effects on his Virginia hometown. He describes how social clubs ("the B—— Club" appears to reference a specific club) have closed or been converted to Salvation Army facilities. He contrasts this dead town with memories of his father's pre-Prohibition era—a man of professional success who hosted lavish gatherings with wine flowing freely. The satire targets Prohibition's devastating impact on American social life and hospitality traditions. "Bacchus" (Roman god of wine) references the loss of drinking culture. The piece nostalgically portrays pre-1920 America as more vibrant and convivial, implicitly criticizing the new dry law as destructive to community life. The surrounding advertisements for lawn mowers and travel tours provide commercial context typical of Life's format.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Cutting laree plots of ¢ hand mowers is a tedious, ex- pensive job. . Labor is scarce and its cost is high. If you are encountering dificul. ties in securing labor—if the your lawn in = food condition is becoming ex- cessive, the Ideal Power Lawn Mower will solve yourproblems. Being a power mower and roller in one, the Ideal permits eco- nomical year round care, Will cut from four to five acres of grass per day and is used with E> son private estates, golf courses, ceme- simple and trouble- {8 proof. Anyone can operate i Sold on a guarantee of } satisfaction. Write for literature and details," also name of our nearest dealer Ideal Power Lawn Mower Co. R. F. OLDS, Chairman Sailing from San Francisco, Febraary 28th, March 6th. ‘April 27th, Jane 260 Visiting Japan, Korea, China, e Philippines ACherry Blossom SatSe fan Sete March TS tite for details, AMERICAN EXPRESS TRAVEL DEPARTMENT 65 Brvatway, New Ya “LIFE: Improbability XPECT the sun to sink from sight, And never shed again its light ; The moon to hide its winsome face Eternally from all the race; The stars to close their sparkling eyes, And ever vanish from the skies; The earth to stop its nervous spin, And rest in some celestial inn; The seas to cease to swallow ships That prove too tempting for their lips; And hell to change from an abyss Into a land of perfect bliss; But, notwithstanding what she may Have said or done, in a curt way, To wound a heart, or crush a soul, Or smudge affection’s aureole— Do not expect, in any wise, \ woman to apologize. Ralph M. Thomson Mourning for Bacchus To tue Epitor or Lire—Sir; I have lived five years in France, and was last in the States during those almost for- gotten days when President Wilson was running for a second term on a platform of peace, prosperity and a reduced cost of living. I visited my old home in Virginia for the first time in ten years, and my whole experience prompts me to make a few observations, mostly on Prohibition. Great Scott! What has happened to the United States I used to know? . The little Virginia town where I was born is a good illustration. Where are the house parties, the round of innocent gaiety, the merry meetings in the afternoon and evening at the County Club, the Tennis Club or the B—— Club? Every sign of them gone, and the buildings converted to the use of the Salvation Army, the Y. M. C. A. and the country jail, re- spectively. I asked an old acquaintance the cause. “ Prohibition,” he replied briefly. “ The clubs all went blooey as soon as the law became effective in this state. The town is dead.” I met an old sweetheart on the street one day, and inquired concerning her husband, an old schoolmate. “He is all right,” she replied, and added with an embarrassed smile, “ The only trouble with him is that he is dead on his feet, and don’t know it. Can't you take him back to France with you and let him get on a real tear? I think it would do him good. Wish I could go myself.” How vividly my old home recalled my father, a man who had time to be the best of companions to his large family of boys, the life of a hunting party or other social occasion, whose home was ever full of guests and poor relations, and yet who made a conspicuous suc- cess in his profession. I remember, too, the good wine that was ever on his table, ATHLETES Golfers, Tennis and Base Ball Players use ALLEN’S FOOT-EASE The Antiseptic, Heal Powder to sha’ > into ae shoes and sprinkle in the foot-bath, because it takes the friction from the sboe, freyhens the feet and makes walking a delight, Shake Allen's Foot-Ease Into your shoes in the morning and notice the difference in yourcomtorg during the e Allen's Foot-Ease. At dealers every here, Sam- ple Free by mail. Address Allen 8. Ole Le Roy, 8. Y as generous as his own hospitality. Alas, it is hard to see how this new, drear at- mosphere can produce his like asain New York, where I spent two years as a reporter, was familiar and pleasant Prohibition has not affected her, as far as I can see, and she remains like an incorrigibly ‘frivolous girl whose latest fad is to add a sober touch to her frip- peries. It is in rural communities such as I have described that the blight is most apparent. In three days I shall be on the sea, speeding back to Nice and my wife and child. There I shall be among a people on whom Fate has seemed for centuries to delight in playing her cruclest pranks And yet, thank heaven! they have not forgotten how to smile, how to be kind and courteous, nor have they lost the genius of hospitality. I. shall continve to serve my country faithfully, but uatl we come out of this gloomy thraldom ia which we now seem steeped, I fess I prefer to serve it from a ¢ Washington, D. C., Jan. 17, 1920. LUtE has nothing better to offer than a pal that is con- stant, a slave that is willing, a guardian that is alert; in other words, a Palisade Police Dog. PALISADE KENNELS Merrick Road ROSEDALE Long Island Finger Print Es FINGER PRINTS details, od A = UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED av72 comicbooks.com