Life, 1920-02-26 · page 25 of 40
Life — February 26, 1920 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Cartoon:** A working-class figure observes a wealthy person in an elaborate horse-drawn carriage, remarking he's "beginnin' to believe there's somethin' in that socialism business." This satirizes post-WWI economic inequality and growing labor discontent—the stark visual contrast between rich and poor drives the social critique. **"The Knocker" Poem:** A nostalgic piece by Charlotte Becker about a brass door knocker, reflecting on historical memories and human drama it has witnessed. It appears sentimental rather than satirical. **Bottom Cartoon:** A man tells his grandmother he regrets not visiting her during the flu epidemic (likely the 1918 Spanish Flu), now that he's survived. The joke: he's disappointed to have missed the illness, suggesting people who survived felt oddly excluded from a defining shared tragedy. **Overall Context:** The page combines social commentary on class tension with period-specific humor about the recent pandemic, alongside nostalgic poetry—typical of Life's mix of satire, sentiment, and contemporary cultural reference.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“ DARNED EF L AIN'T BEGINNIN’ TO BELIEVE THERE'S SOMETHIN’ IN THAT SOCIALISM BUSINESS, AFTER ALLE” The Knocker OW many hands have lifted you, Quaint bit of shining brass— tied Iu those dim yesterdays, when time rephed, Vas not so swift to pass. What gladness, and what sadness, too, You mirrored, and what gay, wnt _adventures, as perchance The linkboys swung your way What swords you saw go bravely forth fo seek a forcign shore What hearts were broken at the word our muffled summons bore. What secrets lay within your hold— he laughter and the tears, That followed patch and periwig Jown those distant years. Lu too fast-sealed your carven lips or any whispered breath OF how your world played out its masque {life and love and death, Charlotte Becker. “ye cops! TRUE love is no respecter of purses. HE tallest tree in the asked how he did it “By minding my own business,” HOSE of us who escaped the “ flu” have read so much about it in the papers that it is a disappointment not forest was he to have had it AND TO THINK I WASN'T VERY KEEN ABOUT VISITING MY GRANDMOTHER!" comicbooks.com