Life, 1920-09-09 · page 9 of 44
Life — September 9, 1920 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three poems ("Query," "Brown Study in Autumn," and "The Strange Forest") with decorative header illustrations, plus a large satirical cartoon below. The cartoon depicts a social gathering—possibly a party or outdoor event—where a woman sits while numerous men in suits and hats stand around her. The caption reads: "HE TALKS ABOUT HIMSELF ALL THE TIME. HE WON'T LISTEN TO A WORD YOU SAY." "HE'LL LISTEN IF YOU TALK ABOUT HIM." This is social satire about male egotism and conversational behavior. The joke mocks men who are self-absorbed, won't listen to others, but become attentive only when the conversation centers on themselves. The crowded scene suggests this is a common, recognizable social dynamic among the educated classes Life targeted.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Query LONGED to stay; she bade me go, Although her lips were smiling sweetly. I pleaded, but she nodded “ No,” ‘And hence I disappeared completely. Beloved one, I love her so; Her ways so gracious and so sweet are. What would she say could she but know My heart's more stubborn than my feet are? Clinton Scollard, “HE TALKS ABOUT HIMSELF ALL THE TIME. Brown Study in Autumn FIELD with the seedy grass And slow-wing butterfly, When suddenly some soft, strange thing Claims and fixes my eye. I know not what it is I see, Sunbeam or butterfly; But I know that I'm touched by wings Of souls other than I. Eron O. Rowland. “HE'LL LISTEN IF YOU TALK ABOUT HIM.” The Strange Forest ‘OU woke so many things in me I thought were sleeping sound: You made fantastic bright plants grow On barren ground. My heart is like a forest grim Of strange and wild Great vines; and in its spaces dim I walk, a child Lost, wondering at the mysteries Of golden birds in tropic trees. Mary Carolyn Davies. HE WON'T LISTEN TO A WORD YOU SAY.” comicbooks.com