Life, 1922-01-12 · page 4 of 34
Life — January 12, 1922 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct pieces: **"Sanctum Talk"** features a dialogue between "Boss" (Life's editor) and "Archie" (a cockroach character—Life's mascot). Archie describes visiting the Polyclinic Hospital to see disabled soldiers returning from World War I. The conversation satirizes the contrast between public patriotism during wartime versus societal indifference to veterans' suffering afterward. Archie's poem criticizes how disabled soldiers are neglected despite their sacrifice. **"Raining"** is a humorous poem listing all the things "raining" besides water—muddy boots, coughs, doctor's bills—reflecting post-war hardship and inflation. **"The Only Real Danger"** shows two boys discussing smoking, with the punchline that one fears getting caught rather than health consequences—typical early 20th-century juvenile humor. The page addresses WWI veteran welfare concerns through satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Sanctum Talk “QC\AY, Boss.” “Great Cesar’s astral outfit, what is this I see before me? . . . Keep off! Who are you?” “Don’t you know me, Lire? I’m archie.” “What! archie the cockroach? Don Marquis’s archie of the New York Sun?” “On my antenne, yes! Dropped in to shake a couple of legs with you, and incidentally rest up. traveling, LiFe.” I’ve been “Traveling? I thought you were like Simeon Stylites, fastened to your own column for good.” “Nit nit! Why I eat up travel. Be- sides, one with an orthopterous artistic soul like mine learns after a while that the love of Munsey is the root of all journalistic evil; and so—” “Where have you been?” “Over to the Polyclinic Hospital; I’m all in, but here’s a little song I sung, i went out to meet all the little polyclinics boss and i said ill jazz with you while the jazzings good well say its a hospital where the disabled soldiers are looked after by the govt boss you dont know but i do because i went there happy and saying to myself heres paradise for me and it was hell believe me and— “Look here, archie, what are you driving at?” “Well, you see, Boss Lire, it was this way. I thought I’d make a grand tour of all the government hospitals for dis- abled soldiers, and the first one I tried was the Polyclinic. So help me—” “You do look tired, archie.” “Tt got me, all right. I wonder are they all as bad as that?” “No, archie; there are some of ’em that wouldn’t let you in. Still—” “Boss, I’m only a common cockroach, but I’m human, if I do say it, and I can’t get over the way you folks treat your disabled boys. I’m not exactly refined. I can stand for a whole lot; but it got me. After seein’ what I seen at the Polyclinic I says to my side partner Bill, Bill, I says, you’re a hero when you're winning the battle of the sink, but when it’s over it’s down the drainpipe for all of us.” “Well, archie, old blattoid, don’t be discouraged. Everything’s going to be all right. All the nice women who took such a keen interest in the war are coming back to look after.the forgotten heroes; all the red tape will vanish; all the hospitals will be 100 per cent. clean; all the boys—” “All right, boss, I’ll take your word for it; now give us a chance, will you?” “A chance for what, archie?” “Let me lie down on my back on the edge of this pastepot with my legs in the air for a couple of days and recover from the Polyclinic. I’m disabled.” Raining T isn’t raining rain to me, It’s raining muddy boots. It isn’t “raining daffodils’— It’s raining shrunken suits. It’s raining coughs and colds and croup— My inmost being chills! It isn’t raining rain at all— It’s raining doctor’s bills! Rebecca Linley Fripp. The Only Real Danger Freddy: Naw! Ain’t you afraid to smoke? Tm only afraid ter get caught smokin’. comicbooks.com —_— ~_ gr en m Sa dr