Life, 1921-11-24 · page 8 of 34
Life — November 24, 1921 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**"Sanctum Talk" Section:** A humorous interview between "Life" (the magazine personified) and Thomas Edison. Edison defends his public prominence and materialist philosophy against Life's gentle mockery. The piece satirizes Edison's tendency to pronounce on subjects beyond his expertise, with Life quipping that Edison thinks "you as being with an extraordinary gift for invention; with an uncanny capacity for applications" while being willing to opine on anything. **Bottom Cartoon:** Titled "The First Move to Curb Excessive Immigration," this depicts a large archer figure (likely representing America or policy-makers) aiming arrows at a distant shore with ships, symbolizing restrictive immigration policy. The silhouetted archer is the focal point of anti-immigration sentiment. The page also contains brief humorous exchanges like "Love Is Dead! Long Live Love!" and "Sure Thing!" and "Absent Cookery"—typical satirical content mocking social conventions and domestic life.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Sanctum Talk “ ELLO, Lire!” “Hello, there! Great Scott, if this isn’t Tom Edison! I am mighty glad to see you. It isn’t very often that you give a voluntary interview like this, is it?” “No, Lire; I’m pretty busy keeping myself before the public through the newspapers; but it occurred to me that I might reach a lot of people through you that didn’t know about me.” “Dear me, Mr. Edison, everybody knows about you; Irvin Cobb’s goldfish is a timid and shrinking violet com- pared with you. But still, but still—’ “But are you sure that everybody gets me right?” “Positive, Mr. Edison. When you say you never sleep, everybody knows you do, When you intimate there is no hereafter, people begin to suspect there must be. When you assert that knowl- edge of material facts is all there is, we immediately wonder if there isn’t something else. Why, Mr. Edison, but for you, we should all begin to lack faith in the things that we do not see.” “Am [as great a man as that, Lire?” “You are, I assure you. You have established the fact that you are the only wizard of materialism.” “Don’t they think any better of me than that, Lire?” “Surely, Mr. Edison. They think of you as being one with an extraordinary gift for invention; with an uncanny capacity for application; and they freely forgive you for all things you say on what you know nothing about.” “Then they don’t believe all I say?” “Now, now, Mr. Edison, even you—” “Good morning, Lire.” “Good modesty to you, Tom Edison.” Love Is Dead! Long Live Love! UR little romance, is it ended? So sweet, yet so quickly con- sumed! Is this how our love was intended, To flourish awhile and be doomed? I thought when you let me embrace you And fondle the locks of your hair, That no other girl would replace you, How dreams vanish into the air! So be it. Along the broad highway Of life there are roads that diverge. You'll go yours and I shall go my way. And never, I hope, shall they merge. You're sorry, you say, that you m And gave me such trouble and | Don’t take it to heart, dear, forget me! I've got someone else on the brain! Max Lic. Sure Thing! Patient: Tell me frankly, doctor, am I going to get well? Docror: Yes, sir, you are! You're going to get well if it costs you ten thousand dollars. Absent Cookery Atice: I've bought a fireless cooker. Vireinta: When did you learn to play bridge? The First Move to Curb Excessive Immigration comicbooks.com