Life, 1921-06-09 · page 8 of 38
Life — June 9, 1921 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Cartoon:** Shows a man lying injured on a street while well-dressed bystanders pass by. One figure holds a club. The caption sarcastically invokes the Biblical "Good Samaritan" parable—contrasting the story's moral lesson about helping strangers with modern urban indifference. The club-wielder appears to have *caused* the injury, and onlookers ignore the victim. This satirizes how contemporary society failed to embody Christian charity despite claiming moral values. **Bottom Section:** A grocer's comic exchange mocks economic inequality—a customer complains about overcharging, and the grocer dismisses concern for ethical business. This reinforces the "New Samaritanism" theme: modern society prioritizes profit over human welfare. Both pieces critique the gap between professed Christian morality and actual social behavior.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE NEW SAMARITANISM “WELL, GEE WHIZ, HE WANTED ME TO LAY 'IM OUT WID A BRICK $0'S 1 COULD RUN AND GIT A rit DOCTOR WHO'D GIVE ‘IM A DRINK TO REVIVE Soliloquy Written in a Bathtub OF course there’s no way out of it, and yet When I behold my lack of pulchritude My soul is seared by this one vain regret: That bathing can’t be done save in the nude. ‘Tis well, old tub—and I do not disguise The deep, deep satisfaction that is mine— That you’ve no brains nor voice and have no eyes To gaze upon this “human form divine”! When I behold this travesty on man (Created, ‘tis alleged, the Perfect One) ; When I this queer, crude architecture scan I feel the worst of evil has been done. And as I gaze upon my spindling shanks, Each one disfigured by a knobby knee, I plunge them ‘neath the water and give thanks A bathroom is a place of privacy! There may be those, old tub, who daily go Through their ablutions with a brow serene— I doubt it not at all—but this I know: That J am no seductive bathing queen! ... One sweetly solemn thought comes to my mind While here I sit (it makes my eyes grow dim): Clothes do not make the man, but, well designe Grocer: SAY, YOUNG MAN, YOU CHARGED THAT LADY $5.10 IN- They do, thank heaven, make the most of hir STEAD OF $5.20. IF YOU WANT TO BE A GROCER, THAT AIN'T THE ° Roscoe E. McGowen RIGHT KIND OF A MISTAKE TO MAKE. FEO RS OES comicbooks.com