Life — December 30, 1920 — page 12: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Satan: 1920 READ there is a man who sits apart, A sort of human spider in his den, Who meditates upon a fearful art— The swiftest way to slay his fellow men. Behind a mask of glass he dreams his hell: With chemic skill, to pack so fierce a dust Within the thunderbolt of one small shell- Sating in vivid thought his shuddering lust— Whole cities in one gasp of flame shall die, Swept with an all-obliterating rain Of sudden fire and poison from the sky; Nothing that breathes be left to breathe again— And only gloating eyes from out the air Watching the twisting fires, and ears attent For children’s cries and woman’s shrill despair, The crash of shrines and towers in ruin rent. High in the sun the sneering air-men glide, Glance at wrist-watches: scarce a minute gone, And London, Paris or New York has died! Scarce twice they look, then turn and hurry on. And, far away, one in his quict room Dreams of a fiercer dust, a deadlier fume: The wireless crackles him, “ Complete success” “Next time,” he smiles, “in half a minute less! To this the climbing brain has won at last— A nation’s life gone like a shrivelled scroll— And thus To-Day outstrips the dotard Past! I envy not that man his devil's soul. Richard Le Gallienne. Farthers (As the small boy views them.) 'ARTHERS are the men your Muther married. They go to Offis every day to get there Mony on Saturday. You do not know how Much they Get but you can lick any feller on the block who says it isn’t More than his Farther gets. Some- times Farthers go to Offis at night to sce there Frends who are Sick, wich is why Muthers do not like Offises. Farthers are very Useful to Muthers becaws when she is at her Wits Ends or you have done something Awful she says she will certainly Speak to your Farther when he comes home. And then he asks you all about what you have Done when you are trying to Forget that you Did it, and he looks at you Fierce and says What do: you mean and if you Anser you are Impident and if you dont Anser you are Sullen and ether way you get Sent to Bed. You used to be Skared to Deth when he talked about sending you to Re- form Skool, but 1 time you herd him lafing with your Muther afterward and telling her she'd orter seen what he done at that Age. So now you just act Re- speckful and try to say Yessir and Nossir at the places he Expecks you to, wile he is Jumping on you. They are not nearly so Partickerler as Muthers about how you Look, and they do not think you will probly Grow Up to be a Mirderer or Something becaws your Teecher caught you smokeing a Cigaret back of the Skool, or that you will never go to Heven becaws you say dam and hel when you are playing Pirats. They will let you keep Rabbits and Ginny pigs wich your Muther says are Pests, and let you ask questions about Things your Muther says you are Too Young to know about Yet. And when you fall off the Shed and Brake your Leg Farthers will bring you a puppy to keep you Co., and stay up all nite telling you funny stories to make you forget how it Hurts, and never Let On that they Notis if you Cry some. OUTH measures the future with the straight, new ruler of the present; Old Age, by the frayed and patched plumb- line of the past. comicbooks.com