Life, 1921-10-27 · page 13 of 34
Life — October 27, 1921 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical piece titled "For a Pure Mother Goose: LIFE's Board of Censors Suggests a Few Expurgations." It mocks moral censorship by presenting "cleaned up" versions of classic nursery rhymes with darkly humorous commentary. The page critiques censors who object to innocent details while overlooking deeper problems: 1. **Miss Muffet**: Censors want shorter skirts, but LIFE sarcastically suggests analyzing whey for alcohol instead. 2. **Tommy Snooks**: Censors object to a child thinking about Monday on Sunday, calling it a "wandering mind." 3. **"Sing a song of sixpence"**: References rye whiskey smuggling, mocking the absurdity of literal censorship. 4. **John and his breeches**: Censors object to a child sleeping clothed, finding indecency where none exists. 5. **Old King Cole**: Censors should prefer milk to his pipe and bowl. The satire highlights how moral crusaders focus on trivial or imaginary problems while missing actual vice.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
October 27 For a Pure Mother Goose LIFE’S Board of Censors Suggests a Few Expurgations Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet Eating of curds and whey— Your committee finds that Miss Muffet’s skirts are far too short for sitting on tuffets. N. B.—Make chemical analysis of whey to ascertain alcoholic content. Sing a song of sixpence, A pocket full of rye. Here is not only an evil suggestion but a brazen disregard of the law —and then think of the quality of the rye—sixpence for a pocketful. Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John Went to bed with his breeches on. Clothed in seeming innocence but ob- jectionable for the picture it at once brings to mind of aforesaid son John minus his nether garments, As Tommy Snooks and Betsy Brooks Were walking out one Sunday, Said Tommy Snooks to Betsy Brooks, “To-morrow will be Monday.” There has been much too much of this. In allowing himself to think of Monday on Sunday Mr. Snooks is encouraging his mind to wander, and where, we ask you, will a wandering mind stop? Old King Cole was a merry old soul, And a merry old soul was he. He called for his pipe and he called for his bowl And he called for his fiddlers three. Comment is scarcely necessary. How much finer it would have been had he called for a glass of milk and the “Christian Herald.” comicbooks.com