Life, 1922-02-16 · page 31 of 34
Life — February 16, 1922 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct elements: **Left side - Poetry ("Life, You Old Wizard"):** A poem by Louise Saunders personifying Life as a reluctant wizard. A young person impatiently demands Life reveal its treasures immediately, complaining about waiting and wanting to "waste" happiness while youth lasts. The tone captures youthful impatience with life's gradual unfolding. Below it is a cartoon (reproduced from British *Punch*) showing convivial men introducing friends—likely satirizing how people vouch for questionable characters. **Right side - Advertisement:** The Bell Telephone System runs a corporate advertorial titled "Foresight," praising Alexander Graham Bell's 1877 vision that the telephone could create universal communication infrastructure. The ad argues Bell System's early planning enabled efficient modern service. This is essentially propaganda celebrating the company's expansion from dozens to millions of phones. **The satire:** The juxtaposition is ironic—the poem's impatient youth contrasts with Bell's patient, long-term planning. The ad subtly suggests corporate foresight is superior to human spontaneity.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Life, You Old Wizard IFE, you old wizard, what have you il for me? Open your bag. Let me see! Let me see! Oh, I could shake you! Life, you’re so slow. Come, speed it up a bit. know ou are hiding there. Just let me All of it’s are you withhold it! How dare you decline, Shaking your head in its tall purple hat, Handing me samples of this and of that, Calmly, deliberately. Time’s going fast. Do you think, simpleton, youth’s going to last? Now I'm all eagerness. Soon I'll grow Stupid. gray, old, and then nothing will matter. One drop of bitterness, one drop of wine, ' One little sugar plum, one taste of brine— | Must | stand waiting here all the years through? Life, can’t you see that that’s no way to do? Spill it all, empty it out on the floor; | Give me the happiness out of my store. Throw me the roses, the wine and the Let me grow drunk on them, waste them as long their perfume and beauty re- for the tragedy! Ho, for the nt ou old wizard, what have you I Life, for me? Open that bag. Let me see! ! see! Let me Louise Saunders. Convivial Member (with the best of intentions): I want to introduce you to a dear old friend of mine—one of the very best—one of the whitest men unhung. Reproduced from Punch (London): by artangement with the proprietors. JORTY-THREE years ago Alezander Graham Bell, the in- ventor of the telephone, wrote this inspired forecast: “It és conceivable that cables of ‘telephone wires could be laid under- ground or suspended overhead, communicating by branch wires with private dwellings, country’ houses, shops, manufacturers, etc., and a man in one part of the country’ may communicate by’ word of mouth with another in a distant Lace. AV the right, an old print of Belt lecturing on tetephony, 1877. Foresight More than forty years ago, when the telephone was still in its experimental stage, with but a few wires strung around Boston, the men back of the undertaking fore- saw a universal system of com- munication that would have its influence upon all phases of our social and commercial life. They had a plan of organiza- tion capable of expansion to meet the growth they foresaw; and their wisdom is borne out by the fact that that plan which they estab- lished when telephones were numbered by dozens is efficient now when telephones are num- bered by millions. This foresight has‘advanced the scientific development of the art of telephony to meet the multiplied GRR public requirements. It has pro- vided for funds essential to the construction of plant; for the pur- chase of the best materials on the most advantageous terms; for the training of employees to insure skilled operators; for the extension of service in anticipation of growth, with the purpose that no need which can be foreseen and met will find the Bell System unpre- pared. The foresight of the early pioneers has been developed into a science during the years which have elapsed, so that the planning of future operations has become a function of the Bell System. This is why the people of the United States have the most efficient and * most economical telephone service in the world. "BELL SYSTEM” iy ) AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY AND ASSOCIATED COMPANIES One Policy, One System, Universal Service, and all directed toward Better Service The Period of Emergency When Alexander Lee announced his en- gagement to Violet Linkins everybody in the neighborhood congratulated him on | winning such a hard-working and fore- handed mate. But Gus Rustling remarked: “*Peared like yo’ wouldn’ nevah speak up, Alexander. It’s goin’ on six months sincet yo’ began fiddlin’ ’round wid Vi'let.” “Dat's so.” Alexander admitted frankly, “but Ah didn’t lose mah job till last night.” —American Legion Weckly. “Has your cook been with you long?” “With us? She’s been against us from the start.”—Boston Transcript. Ghe Albemarle Park Asheville, N.C. ] This charming English Inn holds a warm place in the hearts of cultivated people everywhere. Southern hos- Pitality. Simple, perfect service, homelike’ informal- ity, concentrated comfort. Perfect Golf in a Perfect Climate, pen All Year. Write for Booklet “L”, In America-~4n English Inn SSE english Inn comicbooks.com