Life, 1921-11-17 · page 34 of 34
Life — November 17, 1921 — page 34: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three satirical pieces typical of *Life* magazine's humor: **"The Waiter and the Alligator"** is a humorous poem contrasting the Mississippi River alligator with a Parisian restaurant waiter. The joke equates the waiter's predatory behavior (overcharging diners, "scooping your money in") with a dangerous animal. It's a common satirical jab at fine dining establishments, suggesting waiters exploit wealthy patrons as ruthlessly as predators. The poet humorously claims the alligator would be preferable. **"Justice Is Justice!"** is a brief comic dialogue where a five-year-old named Emerson Waldo suggests deporting his newborn baby brother as an "illiterate emigrant" because the infant cannot read or write. This satirizes contemporary immigration restrictions and literacy tests used to limit immigration—absurdly applying these adult political criteria to a helpless baby. Both pieces use exaggeration and unexpected comparisons to mock social targets: restaurant pricing practices and restrictive immigration policies.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
TS. superb flavor and blending qualities make | your “private stock” “last longer taste bet- ter, too. And, as an appetizer —well, just try it! “Original Recipes” our new boo! free upon reque Restaurant & Wine Co, i838 West B'way Y. Local Distributors Desired The Ideal Winter Resort PRINCESS HOTEL BERMUDA Directly on the Harbor. Accommodates 400. Open Dec. 12 to May 1. L. A. TWOROGER, Manager Successor to HOWE & TWOROGER Mr. Tworoger will be at Hotel Belmont, Park Ave. and 42nd St., New York, Nov. 16th to 29th. Justice Is Justice! Emerson Watpo (aged five): We have a new baby at our house, but I hope we shall -be able to get rid of it. Howarp: For Heaven’s sake! Emerson Watpo: Yes; it cannot read or write, and I shall have it de- ported as an illiterate emigrant. Books Received And by Max Beerbohm (Dutton). Tangled Trails, by William MacLeod Raine (Houghton Mifflin). A Magnificent Farce, by A, Edward Newton (Atlantic Monthly | Press). ias, the Lone Wolf, by Louis Joseph Vance y, Page). My Maiden Effort, collected by the Authors’ League of America (Doubleday, Page) Washington Close-ups, by Edward G, Lowry (Houghton Mifflin). Youngsters, by Burges Johnson (Dutton) An Argosy of Fables, by Frederic Taber Cooper (Stokes). The Beginning of Wisdom, by Stephen Vin- cent Benét (Holt). First Down, Kentucky! by Ralph D (Houghton Mifflin). This Man’s World, by Will Levington Comfort (Doubleday, Page). Ashes of Evidence, by Eric Levison (Bobbs- Merrill). The Lark, by Dan: The Wedne (Macmillan), ragedy of Lord Kitchener, by Reginald Viscount Esher (Dutton). Remarkable Rogues, by Charles Kingston (John Lane). cess, by Samuel Hopkins Adams (Houghton Mifflin). A Painter in Palestine, by Donald Maxwell (John Lane: Paine Burnet (Little, Brown). ‘e, by Juliette Gordon Smith by Alan Handsacre (John Lane). a, by Elizabeth” (Doubleday, Page) he Lost Horizon, by G. Colby Borley (Dodd, Mead). The Blood of the Conquerors, by Harvey gusson (Knopf). Margaret's Mead, by Jane Harding (Double- day, Page). Hearts and the Diamond, by Gerald Beaumont (Dodd, Mead). Mayfair and Montmartre, by Ralph Nevill (Dutton). The Land of Haunted Castles, by Robert J. (Century). ed? by Marjorie Benton Cooke (Double- day, Page). Where the Young Child Was, by Marie Con- way Oemler (Century). The Isolation Pla} (Cornhill Co., Boston). The Mind of the Buyer, by Harry Dexter Kit- son, Ph.D, (Macmillan). The Island, by Bertha Runkle (Century), The Gift of Paul Clermont, by Warrington Dawson (Doubleday, Page). Working North from Patagonia, by Harry A. Franck (Century). King of Kearsarge, by Arthur O. Friel (Penn Publishing Co.). The Crystal Heart, by Phyllis Bottorse (Cen- tury). : 32 by William H. Blymyer The Waiter and the Alligator =NEATH the waves and mud Of the Mississippi flood, Hides the alligator; Behind the potted plants Of Parisian restaurants, Lurks the waiter. With his clongated teeth He will eat you like roast beef, Will the alligator; With his sickening little grin He will scoop your money in, Will the waiter. If I had to choose between The crocodile and Paris Green, And the waiter; I'd take the poison ‘ And—after that— The alligator. off the bat” G.W. A, Why Bother About Intelli- gence? Tue discussion now going on as to whether intelligence tests are of any value threater ume alarming proportions. Elaborate machinery has been invented, in which the senses of a human being are measured with regard to their receptivity, activity, ete. Of course, these tests are valuable, in so far as they dissect the various ties of intelligence. But is not intel gence overrated? Intelligent people, especially they are too much so, cannot always be trusted. They have got the world into a lot of trouble in the past, and will no doubt do it in the future unless they are watched. Nobody complained that the Germans were not intelligent, but they came near ruining the world. In- telligence may be very good, when it is of the right sort and rightly applied. It may be very bad, when it is the wrong kind. There has always been enough intelligence to go round. What is needed in any people is more char- acter, more of the thing that say when “No” ought to be said, and “Yes” when “Yes” ought to be said. when Statistics It is estimated by the Bureau of Ani- mal Industry that 309,807 movie ac- tresses could relieve the shortage in do- mestic dishwashers by fifty per.cent., if they were properly cast. * OK Ok Twelve hundred thousand persons in New York City during the last si months gave letters of introduction recommending bores they wished to get rid of but did not know very well. + ee The months of the year, laid end to end, reach from the holiday bills of January first to the holiday bills of the next New. Year. comicbooks.com