Life, 1921-02-10 · page 34 of 42
Life — February 10, 1921 — page 34: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine contains literary content and a fundraising appeal mixed with social humor. The main items are: **"Evanescence"** and **"Save the Poe Cottage"**: A poem and editorial campaign to preserve Edgar Allan Poe's cottage in Fordham, New York. The text argues the cottage—where the impoverished poet lived—deserves preservation as a memorial to his genius, despite his lowly status during life. This reflects early 20th-century literary preservation efforts. **Bottom cartoon**: "The Marriage License Clerk Spoke Too Soon" depicts a clerk misunderstanding a couple's request for two marriage licenses as bigamy, when they actually need duplicates for bureaucratic purposes. The humor relies on the clerk's hasty misinterpretation of their legitimate need. The page also includes small illustrations of childhood scenes (infancy, schooldays, grocery shopping) and a financial accounting of donations received for the Poe Cottage preservation fund.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Evanescence RED leaf tossed by an autumn gale, The glow of the sunset sky; The track of a deer through a snowy trail, The flight of a butterfly. A cobweb vanishing in the sun, An echo from canyons wild; A burst of applause for a victory won, The laugh of a little child! Ray H,. Gross. Save the Poe Cottage The following sonnet appeared in “ The Conning Tower” of the New York Tribune: Alt the Poe Cottage, Fordham Let this frail structure fall; shame, Thou insolent town through walked alone And poor—that threw the Pharisaic stone, Too dull to value him, too quick to blame He needs not aid of thine to guard his name; Through the broad earth his magic words are blown. If all thy flaunting marts were overthrown To-day, what matter to his unmoved fame? it speaks thy which he From these bare rooms and through this uarrow door, Clad with a light in which thou hast no part, The inan has passed long since where never more Want may distress, nor sorrow wring the heart. Let this house fall, yet no power hast thou o'er The enchanted palace of his perfect art. AGRicoLa Stronc, We must not “let this frail structure fall.” Poe's works have gained an im- mortality that none of his lowly critics achieve; that is something But the suffered could ever which not even time can change. cottage in which he lived and must be preserved as a memorial to the nobility of the man himself. The readers of generously to our appeals; but a Lire have responded great incident 'S PERSONAL APPEARANCE IN EARLY LIFR, AFTER SEEING THE PLAYS ABOUT HIM CONJECTURES CN LINCOL: deal more money is needed to guarantec We beg to acknowledge the following shall be contributions C. A. Hooks An English s (N. HLS. nous (Birmingh: Roswell T Mrs, Benjamin Nicoll Hern David that the Poe Cottage saved Spencer, . W. Clarence Isabella Harry Heilbrun W. C. Swanson B. Kelly Essex Boswor THE MARRIAGE LICENSE CLERK SPOKE TOO SOON “YOU WANT TO BE MARRIED, BUT WHY TWO LICENS , THAT'S DIFFERENT.” comicbooks.com