Life, 1921-08-25 · page 7 of 34
Life — August 25, 1921 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page combines humorous commentary with satirical illustrations typical of Life's format. **"Eyes" Poem (J.S.W.):** A whimsical verse about eye colors and their symbolic meanings—dumb and wise eyes hypnotize us, and eyes are "pools wherein we fools / See our fate." **"What We Really Need":** A piece requesting Herbert Hoover's help standardizing industries. The satire mocks excessive standardization efforts by sarcastically suggesting standardized divorces and short stories—implying such standardization has already gone absurdly far. **Main Cartoon:** Shows a salesman pitching a modern bathing suit to a female customer, claiming it "won't shrink." The humor plays on common housewife concerns about garment care and product durability. **"Straws show which way the wind blows":** A simple illustration about weather prediction. Overall, the page reflects 1920s consumer culture and business standardization anxieties.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
August 25 Eyes YES, Dumb and wise, Black for midnight, Green for opal’s light, Brown for fallen leaves, Blue for sky where weaves Each dainty cloudlet. Why should eyes, Both dumb and wise Cause our sighs? I know not, but they hypnotize! Eyes are pools Wherein we fools See our fate— Alas, too late! What We Really Need ERBERT HOOVER is asking from business men __ generally, through the editors of technical publ tions, information which will help him chart the “areas of standardization in in- dustry.” We have great confidence in Mr. Hoover, and if anybody can produce results he can. Yet where is standardi- zation going to stop? We already have standardized husbands, standardized chorus girls, and standardized short stories. Why not make a complete survey of some of our recent divorce pro- ceedings, with a view to having a stand- ardized divorce? All these efforts at standardization are not unlike the efforts of a man in a flat-bottom rowboat, with a pair of brightly painted oars, trying to stem Niagara Falls, the Falls being the huge volume of wastage and government Fair Customer (to salesman displaying modern bathing suit): And you're extravagance and profiteering and com- sure this bathing suit won’t shrink? mercial slacking now going on. Salesman: No, miss; it has nowhere to shrink to. Believe a Little Something, Sometimes HAT all men are liars, as King David said in his wrath, a good wholesale maxim, but accepted too confidently it is a serious bar to increase of knowledge. One can’t even be sure that what he hears isn’t so. A good deal of the time it is so or partly and if you are sure it isn’t, you miss something. Belief is a mouse nibbling at a mountain of knowl- edge not yet disclosed. An immense amount ig crue that men in general do not yet know about. The people with more capacity for belief will know about it before the others. The Real Boss LADY and a gentleman who were walking with their little nephew were much entertained with his original way of expressing himself. Among other great truths he declared: “When Daddy says ‘No,’ and Mother says ‘Yes,’ yes is the name of it.” F we intend to do as we like we ought to cultivate extremely “Straws show which way the wind blows.” good manners. comicbooks.com