Life, 1922-05-11 · page 15 of 38
Life — May 11, 1922 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main cartoon depicts a figure lying on a table, apparently exhausted or incapacitated, while another character stands nearby holding a map labeled "For Rent: Desirable Properties at Sodom & Gomorrah" and a sign reading "Bungalows at Jonah's Landing." The caption identifies the prone figure as "Methuselah (who has just signed a ninety-nine-year lease): If I like it I may decide to renew." This is satirizing **real estate speculation and dubious property dealings**. By placing biblical references (Sodom, Gomorrah, Jonah) on rental properties, the cartoon mocks offering cursed or undesirable locations—a joke about fraudulent or worthless land sales. Methuselah's long lease despite apparent exhaustion suggests the absurdity of committing to obviously bad investments.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LANDING | 13 HATHA EAE ~~. cece lt ota Methuselah (who has just signed a ninety-nine-year lease): If I like it I may decide to renew. Wives I AM weary of wives: wives who continually tell me they are madly in love with their husbands, wives who con- tinually tell me they loathe their husbands like nothing else on earth, wives who appear at breakfast looking like the drowned Ophelia, wives who breakfast at five o'clock in the afternoon, wives who are invariably in the throes of di- vorce, wives who tell me confidentially each and all of their domestic difficulties, wives who insist upon living in the country and then spend six days a week in town, wives who invite me to dinner and throughout the entire meal carry ona battle with their dreary husbands, wives who take their husbands on shopping expeditions, wives who trot out the little ones when I come to tea, wives who tell their hus- bands the next morning everything I said to them the night betore, wives who are always cross-examining their hus- bands anent the “other woman,” wives who leave my letters lying about the house, wives who are always pretending their husbands are insanely jealous, wives who have hus- bands who are insanely jealous, wives who choose their husbands’ hats, wives who telephone me at 3 A. M. to in- form me that their husbands haven’t come home, wives who telephone me at 3 A. M. to inform me that their husbands have come home. : The Door Was Open “In these hard times I’m trying to make a living by sell- ing this set of books. Won't you help me out?” “You betcha. I will in a minute if you don’t go peace- ably.”” The Singer IS is a song that fell from a tree, From a brown jolly bird that was singing to me; And the theme of his singing seemed ever to be, Tweedledy—eedledy—ay! He sang me of‘earth on a green day in spring When Nature was taking her annual fling; Tweedledy—eedledy—ay! Of hay ricks and meadows and dear growing trees; Of white scented blossoms; the dull boom of bees; And always he finished his carol of these With tweedledy—eedledy—ay! He sang me of winds on a blue rolling hill, Of sun-checkered meadows and vales deep and still; Tweedledy—eedledy—ay ! Of ten little pigs and a pensive old sow, Of frisky young colts; downy chickens; and how The earth curls away from the blade of a plough! Tweedledy—eedledy—ay! He sang me a rollicking song of his mate In the crab apple tree by the side of the gate; Tweedledy—eedledy—ay! He sang me (I swear it) a song that I knew— A song of the youth and the sweetness of you... But all I could hear of the words were these two, Tweedledy—eedledy—ay! Gok. EB. comicbooks.com