Life, 1921-08-04 · page 5 of 34
Life — August 4, 1921 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a poem by Ethel M. Pomeroy celebrating butterflies as carefree creatures, contrasting their simple pleasure with human ambitions and burdens. The cartoon below depicts what appears to be a street or basement scene with a "Tigers Baseball Club" sign. A figure labeled "Captain Spider Jones" moderates a motion or vote, with the humorous caption suggesting those voting "Aye" will have their faces pushed in, while opposition results in the same consequence—a joke about having no good options in a contentious decision. The specific context of this vote remains unclear from the image alone, but the satire targets either a sports club dispute or local political/social controversy of the era when Life was publishing such material.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Butterflies O what white, rapturous music do th These airy darlings of the summer skies? Vhat radiant flowers, a-bloom beyond our eyes, We watch them dreaming through an idle hour, |. re them on gay-winged wandering to romance? Musing a little on their destiny, (ur earthbound ears, grown dull with dissonance Then go our way, forgetting and unblessed— Mf toil, and earthbound eyes, fail to apprise While they, who sipped the nectar of the flower, Our hearts of those far joys in any wise— And spent their whole life in swift, ecstasy, How have we missed our full inheritance? With all our excellence are unimpressed! Ethel M. Pomeroy. Captain Spider Jones: All those in favor of this motion say “Aye.” All those opposed to it'll get their faces pushed in. Motion carried. . comicbooks.com