Life, 1920-03-04 · page 49 of 78
Life — March 4, 1920 — page 49: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is satirical advertising for a fake correspondence course in highway robbery, presented as a get-rich-quick scheme. The piece mocks both: 1. **Actual correspondence courses of the era** - Life ridicules the proliferation of mail-order educational schemes promising easy wealth 2. **Police officer recruitment** - It sarcastically suggests that honest police work (paying $1,500-2,000 yearly) is foolish when one could instead become a criminal robber earning more The humor relies on the absurd premise: a "National Institute of Highwaymanship" offering twelve lectures for ten dollars, complete with traveling salesmen and free trial copies. By presenting violent crime as just another career option to be marketed like any other product, the satire exposes the predatory nature of contemporary mail-order business schemes that promised unrealistic income to gullible customers. This reflects genuine concern about both widespread fraud and rising banditry during this period in American history.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Highwaymanship by Mail IF you have blue hair, red eyes and a cephalic index of .0936, don’t be a policeman. You were cut out to be a highway- man. Why waste time at a paltry fifteen hundred to two thousand dollars a year when you might be trebling or quadrupling your income as a high- wayman? Get busy. Learn highwaymanship at home. Don’t be a piker and rule a beat. Be a two-gun man and beat the rules. Avoid mistakes. Read Prof. Ruf- neck’s book, “The Higher Highway- manship,” then send fev Lecture. 1, Series A. Trial copy sent free in plain, unlettered wrapper. Complete course of twelve (12) lectures, postage prepaid, ten dollars, An unusual offer. No time to lose. Get in on the ground floor while the game is young and the pickings good. Let our traveling representative call at your home and talk it over. There’s money in it—for you. Nationat Institute or Hicnway- MANSHIP, INc., Catchpenny Bldg., Chicago, IIL, U. S. A. Lift. Corns out e le with Fingers A few drops of Freezone loosen corns so they peel off Apply a few drops of Freezone upon a tender, aching corn or a callus. The Soreness stops and shortly the entire corn or callus loosens and can be lifted off without a twinge of pain. Freezone removes hard corns, soft corns, also corns between the toes and hardened calluses. Freezone does not irritate the surrounding skin. You feel no pain when applying it or afterward. A small bottle of Freezone costs but a few cents at drug stores anywhere. | | March Winds and | the Complexion RESINOL SHAVING STICK gives a creamy, non-drying lather wrt is more invigorating than a walk or drive on a crisp, clear day in early spring, when sharp winds bring a ruddy color to one’s face, and stimulate the joy of living. But these same keen winds produce other effects. They roughen and chap tender skin,—they catch up little par- ticles of dust and lodge them in the tiny pores of the face, and trouble results, The natural oil of the skin combines with the dust and the complexion becomes blotched, gray-looking, and rough. Prevent these conditions—help to keep your skin clear, healthy and soft, by cleansing it with RESINOL SOAP. Let the pure, refreshing lather sink into the pores and rid them of lurking impurities. Sold by all druggists and at toilet goods counters. which isalone sufficient to warrant its adoption by the discriminating man. Reminders © many things remind me of you, dear. And will for years to come: the sweet spring breeze; The murmur of the wind among the trees; The sounds of summer fields; a bird-note clear; A gently rounded hill; the moon's soft light ; A snatch of song; the wings of butter- flies; The stars; the rain; the depths of cloud. less skies; The velvet dark of any starless night; The colors, dear, that I have seen you wear; words, my dear, that I have heard you say; December's snows or tilac-smells of May; A lovely woman’s cheek or lips or hair; You are my world; and while I've life to see, The whole world means but you, my dear, to me. The KL. R. comicbooks.com