Life, 1920-03-04 · page 34 of 78
Life — March 4, 1920 — page 34: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three satirical pieces from post-WWI America: **"A Gentleman"**: A sentimental poem defining gentlemanly virtue through a child's innocent perspective—emphasizing kindness to all creatures and helping the helpless. **"Must We Go On This Way?"**: Mocks the "community singer" phenomenon (apparently a wartime fad where organizers forced group singing at public events). The satire ridicules the forced gaiety, terrible timing during meals, and Americans' enthusiasm for extracting maximum noise from unwilling participants. **The dialogue cartoon** jokes about wartime profiteering: someone earned 37% profit during the war but "saved" nothing—implying wealth vanished through spending or was never truly accumulated. **"Matrimonial"**: A joke about a timid husband who won't take initiative, letting his wife lead. **Final quip**: References departing Secretary Lansing (State Department), asserting the country remains safe under Secretaries Daniels (Navy), Baker (War), and Burleson (Post Office)—likely ironic commentary on these officials' competence.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A Gentleman LITTLE boy was asked one day The meaning of “a gentleman,” And in his own delightful way He gave, as only children can, A definition of the word Which all the world might well have heard. “ A gentleman,” he said, “loves all That God created, great or small; To helpless people help he gives, To beasts and everything that lives; A gentleman is kind, though he Has no one near to make him be.” Must’ We Go On This Way? 'HE community singer, a gift of the war, is now with us. No matter where we go, he rises up and insists that we begin singing some song that we don’t know, in company with a lot of other people who also don’t know it Being an American, the community singer’s idea is to extract as much noise from everybody as possible; and also, being an American, he succeeds. The process of ruining one’s diges- tion at a business men’s luncheon was fairly certain before. Now, after one has become seated in a narrow room with about two hundred others, the chairman announces that the program has begun, and just as the food is brought on, the community singer sud- denly jumps several feet in the air, clicks his heels together, and calls upon everybody to sing No. 38. After this is done, he requests them to sing No. 16. The speaking then begins, the food be- ing snatched from the plates by the famished guests before the hurried waiters have a chance to snatch it away. By the time the speeches are over and the food has disappeared, and everybody is fainting with exhaustion, “HOW MUCH DID YOU GET AT YOUR WAR-TIME JoB?” “ THIRTY-SEVEN PER.” “HOW MUCH DID YOU SAVE?” “WHAT'S THAT—' save'?" the community singer arises once more and completes the operation, The vic- tims, ‘vibrating in every pore with sound, and still gulping automatically and reflexively the food that they didn’t swallow, drag themselves to their re- THE SUGAR FLEND spective business haunts, still deluded that they are doing their vociferous bit toward the regeneration of humanity. One wonders, after all, whether this getting-together process isn’t being car- ried too far. Matrimonial HARINGTON: He is a cautious fellow and hates to take the initiative. Carrincton: Yes, his motto seems to be, “Be sure you're right and then let your wife go ahead.” But the LANSING is gone. country is safe. We still have Daniels, Baker and Burleson. comicbooks.com