Life, 1920-04-15 · page 26 of 44
Life — April 15, 1920 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct satirical pieces: 1. **Top cartoon**: A bicyclist passes a herd of cattle with the caption "Dash it! And they say there's a scarcity of beef!" This mocks wartime or post-war rationing claims—suggesting abundance exists despite official scarcity narratives. 2. **"Tobacchanalian Days" poem**: A lighthearted defense of tobacco smoking, celebrating pipes, cigars, and cigarettes as life's simple pleasures. The speaker dismisses moral reformers who call smoking "pernicious." 3. **Bottom dialogue and cartoon**: Two Irish-accented characters (Bridget O'Flynn and Norah O'Toole) discuss social mobility—women once their employers now won't associate with them socially. The final panel shows a "Strong-minded Citizen" boycotting "profiteers," likely referencing wartime price-gouging and the moral/economic activism surrounding it. **Context**: The page reflects early 20th-century tensions between reformism, consumer culture, class mobility, and wartime/postwar economic anxieties.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Bicyclist: pasu it! AND THEY SAY THERE’S A SCARCITY OF BEEF! Cobacchanalian Days HAT is the use of reforming, any- AN wants but little here below, In time all our bad habits but he wants that little a little LOVE fragrant brier arty ich my tragrar x slated out of existence. longer. When I a-golfing hie; A meerschaum by the fi Its charm who will deny? A cob, if not too dry, Evokes my meed of praise; Then why decry, oh, why, Tobacchanalian days! Ofttimes do I aspire (Be not the price too high!) To that which they acquire Beneath the Cuban sky; If goes the world awry, It cark and care allays; Then why decry, oh, why, Tobacchanalian days! Though some may deem it dire (* Pernicious!" is their ery), This is my deep desire When midnight hours are nigh, The cigarette whereby Life's hung with happy haze; Then why decry, oh, why, Tobacchanalian days! Envoy Comrades, no dearer tie Makes bright our wander-ways ; Then why decry, oh, why, Tobacchanalian days! Clinton Scollard Progress RIDGET O'FLYNN: Toimes have changed, indade. Noran O'Toote: 'Tis true fur yez! Oi used to cook fur women that Oi wouldn’t play bridge wid nowadays. Strong-minded Citizen: NO, TOMLINSON, I HAVE NOT BEEN ILL. NEITHER HAVE I SUFFERED FI NCIAL REVERSES, BY HEAVES IR, 1 AM BOYCOTTING THE PROFITEERS ! comicbooks.com