Life, 1920-08-12 · page 13 of 44
Life — August 12, 1920 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct pieces: **"Hills" (poem)**: A romantic poem addressing hills, celebrating their wild, untamed nature in the north versus their domestication in the south. **"Has to Be Trusted" (cartoon dialogue)**: A brief comic exchange between Willis and Gillis about someone named Bumph who has five children. The joke appears to be that having a large family deserves credit—a commentary on either responsible parenthood or, less charitably, on overpopulation concerns of the era. **"Frankenstein & Co." (article)**: A literary essay discussing Mary Shelley's *Frankenstein*, noting how various writers have referenced or misinterpreted the novel. The author argues that Frankenstein became cultural shorthand for the monster itself, and discusses contemporary anxieties about uncontrollable technological or industrial forces creating societal danger. The "Chance of a Lifetime" sketch (lower left) appears to show someone with a noose, though its specific meaning is unclear from context alone.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Hills FAR in the north, © hills, you stand As lions, with a royal mane Of forest. Wild, imperial, you command Both wind and rain, And brand All mortals trespassers on your domain. But farther south, where men have tried To tame you, and laid bare Your sloping side, With but a ruffled fringe of trees About your crest, you wear The half-apologetic air Of shaven spaniels—ill at ease Although you share The burden of the ripening grain, And gain In usefulness what you have lost in pride. Wholly subdued, at last, you lie, Shorn Samsons, in a sunny field! Calm and benign, With friendly smile, though half-asleep Beneath a sweltering sky, You yield, . Homely Lady (in detective’s office): v0 You THINK YoU CAN SECURE ENOUGH Not rock, nor oak, nor pine, EVIDENCE AGAINST MY HUSBAND? But grass—for sheep! Proprictor: DON'T WORKY, MADAM. IF WORST COMES TO WORST, WE'LL GET HIM TO Helene Hawes Porter, Has to Be Trusted . ILLIS: Bump has five children. A man with a family Frankenstein & Co, five that nowadays ‘deseives & Iotol’eredit: BOUT a hundred years ago Mary Shelley wrote a wild, Guts: Deserves it? Great Scott, he’s got to have it! weird tale called “Frankenstein,” which is very rarely read to-day, although its title is known to many. Mrs. Shelley CO-OPERATE WITH US, told how Frankenstein built a mechanical man, and how he could not control it when once he had set it in motion. The dread monster went on its own way, creating havoc and deal- ing death and destruction, which Frankenstein was powerless to avert. Every one of the few who have read Mrs. Shelley's startling story knows that Frankenstein is the name of the man who made the monster. Most of those who have not read the tale have somehow come to the conclusion that the monster itself was called Frankenstein—which it wasn't So we have a Yale professor in the Vale Review telling us that the statesmen at the Peace Conference in P. “raised a Frankenstein" which left them “practically helpless.” The same slip was made by Mrs. Wharton in her tiovel, " The Reef” —and yet Mrs. Wharton produces upon her readers the impres- sion that she has read everything ever written by anybody at any time in any language orge Eliot made the same im- pression on her readers in the distant mid-Victorian days— but then George Eliot didn’t bestow the name of the maker of the monster on the monster itself, And the New York Times printed a piece the other day on “Labor rankenstein,’ which the writer pointed out that “during the recent epidemic of strikes in basic industries and public utilities, labor roused and inspired certain inert elements in public life, which, like _ : the monster Frankenstein created, now have a power that may Bwooe Hwee ar > become dangerous to those who bring it into being.” Quite so the manufacture of uncontrollable monsters is an unprofitable industry—and the uncontrollable monster himself is an un- desirable citizen, THE CHANCE OF A LIFETIME BLM. comicbooks.com