Life, 1920-12-09 · page 12 of 44
Life — December 9, 1920 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three separate pieces: 1. **"Simple"** (top): A cartoon mocking motorist Johnny Dwyer, who claims overheating ("It's hot, or else I am a liar!") and blames his vehicle rather than admit poor driving. The joke satirizes early automobile owners who made excuses for mechanical problems. 2. **"Passing of an Old Friend"** (right): A sentimental short story about a gray squirrel hunted for its coat. It contrasts the squirrel's positive contributions to nature and children's joy against commercial exploitation. This reflects early conservation concerns. 3. **"Advertisement"** (center-left): A pompous self-advertisement where someone boasts of universal superiority and eventual dominance, with a dialogue between Browne and Towne questioning whether officeholders serve the people or themselves—typical political commentary on bureaucratic self-interest.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Passing of an Old Friend W are told that the gray squirrel is becoming extinct. He is going the way of his larger friends, the buffalo and the Indian. He had a good time while it lasted. There were trees to be climbed, matches to be made, courtships to be conducted, homes to be built, food to be gathered and children to be raised. The gray squirrel did all of these things and more. He contributed to man’s sense of beauty and freedom. He gave some thing of joy and companionship and abounding love to the world. When the houses began to appear he approached the windows where the children, with nuts in their outstretched hands, watched him with glee—at first timidly with his flickering tail in the air, and then with his increas- ing confidence in his young friends. No- body ever accused him of being an enemy to society. The real trouble with the gray squirrel was that he sported a coat. It was a beautiful coat that had proved itself quite useful for certain commercial purposes. The hunter with the trap and gun went after the gray squirrel. And got him. JAMES mOwrccMmERY Race SIMPLE Pending Said a motoring Johnny named Dwyer, “LJAVE you been married before, Ras- “It's hot, or else i am a lyer! : I'd get quite a breeze If I bored one of these!” So he punctured a hole in a tyer! “Not yet?” “Not ‘fo’ I gets my divo'ce.” Advertisement | ANNOUNCE myself unblushingly and with perfect confidence. Nobody has anything on me. Nobody can ever supplant me in the affections and desires of men. I am su- preme mogul of the universe. Everybody is working for me. Asking nothing for myself, all men expect every- thing of me. I withhold nothing and grant as little as I like. Men may doubt fire and the stars, but not me, Nobody ever saw me, yet I am the one reality. Nobody knows anything about me. So long as time shall last my secret is safe. Yet I am ever on the lips of men. My name is lisped by the toddling infant and chortled by hoary-headed sages. I am the one that you will eventually disown, I am to-morrow. ROWNE: The officeholder is really a servant of the people. “VLL GIVE YE A HUNDRED AN’ PIFTY FER THAT MARE, HANK.” Towne: Yes—wastes their substance “ NOTHIN’ DOIN’, AB, SHE'S WUTH THREE HUNDRED.” and does as he pleases. “WAL, LET'S SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE AN’ CALL IT A HUNDRED AN’ FIPTY-FIVE.” comicbooks.com