Life, 1921-01-20 · page 11 of 36
Life — January 20, 1921 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes strict Sabbath observance campaigns of the early 20th century. The top illustration shows the "Ancient and Honorable Society for the Prevention of Sunday Recreation"—a caricatured group of stern religious figures—meeting to enforce joyless Sunday restrictions. The text mocks their resolutions banning dancing, smoking, coffee, and laughter on Sundays. The poem "Be Good!" parodies their austere messaging, warning against "idle chaffing" and threatening imprisonment for those who disobey. The comic strips below show an officer arresting people for Sunday violations: a man with a mischief foot, a woman visiting her napping husband, and another arrest for Sabbath-breaking. The satire criticizes religious fundamentalism and blue laws as oppressive, anti-freedom, and absurdly puritanical.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
= Drawn by Boardman Robinson MORNING AND HONORABLE SOCIETY FOR THE THE ANCIENT : NDAY RECREATION TION OF § AWMhereas, It is the sense of this meeting that, at lamentably frequent intervals, some gleams of sun- shine have brightened the homes of the American peuple, therefore be it Resolfed, That hereafter nothing shall be permitted, on any joyless Sabbath, to break the sublime monotony of our holy melancholy. N° you cannot kiss me Sunday, you will have to wait till Monday, For anything we like to do is now ille- gal, dear. You will have to quit your smoking and he careful of your joking, And coffice after dinner is as dark a crime as beer. Orricer: Aha! There's mis- chief afoot! Mrs. Switn: Yes, my hus band is in—He's enjoying a nap. Be Good! We must give up all our dances and be- ware of passing glances That might seem to be flirtatious to some minion of the law lf you think you should be happy, some old Puritan who's scrappy Will yell you are a pagan and then biff you in the jaw BLUE SUNDAY AFTERNOON Orricer “a him— have You must never think of laughing or in- dulge in idle chafting, And, though you feel just like it, you must never sing a song For the world is growing saintly; if you frolic, even faintly, They'll the joyous seuls belong! E. S. Van Zile, lock you up in prison, where to wake “ And arrest ‘am. Ae can't enjoy anything on the Sab bath.” comicbooks.com