Life, 1920-05-06 · page 44 of 56
Life — May 6, 1920 — page 44: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising** rather than political satire. The dominant content is a Resinol Soap advertisement featuring an illustration of a mother teaching her daughter proper skincare—"The First Lesson"—promoting the soap's benefits for healthy skin. Below this is a short poem titled "Defiance" by Westmore Willcox, Jr., expressing individualistic rebellion against societal rules ("your tyrant laws"). The right column contains a humorous narrative titled "The House that 'Jack' Built," a parody of the nursery rhyme that satirizes the frustrations of purchasing a California bungalow kit home. It chronicles one A. Payer's experience: enthusiasm from an advertisement, then discovering he owned no land, buying expensive jungle property, dealing with delayed shipments, incomprehensible blueprints, demanding carpenters, parking fees, and taxes—a comedic cascade of unexpected costs and complications. The page also includes advertisements for Bell-an (indigestion relief) and Capewell Horse Nails, typical of early 20th-century magazine content.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“The rst LESSON CT is Mother’s duty to see that small daughter learns the value of cleansing her skin regularly with a pure soap if she would preserve its healthy, rose-like texture, and grow into charming womanhood. From her own experience she knows that nothing can excel the delightfully refreshing lather of Made from the purest ingredients, it benefits the skin cells, and lessens the tendency to blotches, roughness, Resinol Soap. oiliness and similar defects. Have you learned the lesson? aL Sold by all druggists and dealers in toilet goods. Oo’? world, your tyrant laws, your tyrant ways, Are little things of days; Whereas the sages claim this self of mine little, changing Is something rather more than half divine, Defiance And so I care not litle nor too much For all the laws you make and break, as such, Content, old world, to let you scold and shout, While 1 pass fearless out Westmore Willcox, Jr. fearless through and The House that “Jack” HIS is the illustration of the Cah fornia bungalow and ninety Rapids, Michigan. This is A. Payer, who enthused ov the ad. and decided to quit paying re for the rest of his existence. This is the sudden recollection th he had no lot on which to erect bungalow when it came This is the two-hundred-dollar ing lot in a jungle th the city. This is the check to the Peece-Med Construction Compa This is the announcement that order was shipped. This is the gradual hunks of house at the five miles from the lot This is the packag rrival of str via parcel post. . This is ditto hinges, ws and 9 This is the helated bundle of hier glyphic blueprints. This is the crew « tained to transport the pieces from th stat to the land lis is the trio of carpenters e gaged to solve the weeks, as stated. puzzle in thr This is the demand of 1 for one dollar an hour anc for parking their cars This is the tax to be pai property. This is the sale of the lot for one hundred and twe elrthur C. Brooks. CAPEWELL HORSE NAIL MATE iatested by experts, All eats cvaeements reed vt accou of sapevwell” nail the aul wi Sr ina wm Capewall padson your boner The Capewell Horse Nail Co., comicbooks.com