Life, 1922-06-08 · page 7 of 34
Life — June 8, 1922 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This cartoon depicts a moral lesson about hypocrisy. A Vicar (clergyman) approaches a small boy named Martha, intending to deliver sanctimonious advice about morality and sleep habits—lecturing that respectable people shouldn't nap in church. However, the caption reveals the Vicar himself "scarcely ever goes to sleep in church," undermining his credibility. The title "Hoist With His Own Petard" (meaning caught by one's own trap) emphasizes the irony: the Vicar's attempt to moralize backfires because his own behavior contradicts his message. The surrounding newspaper clippings mock various hypocrisies—hard-headed businessmen lacking moral feeling, investigations into workplace safety, and record industrial production. The satire targets Victorian-era sanctimoniousness and class-based moral posturing.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“HOIST WITH HIS OWN PETARD” Our Vicar (to Grandpa, but hoping the “deep moral” of his remarks will penetrate the soul of little Martha, who has been “caught napping” during sermon). NEVER GOES TO SLEEP!” “WELL, I AM PLEASED TO THINK THERE 1S SOME ONE AT LEAST, AMONG MY PARISHIONERS, WHO Little Martha (who is not to be caught napping twice). “Ou No, Sir, GRANDPA SCARCELY EVER GOES TO SLEEP IN CHURCH ANY M the story of his sudden discomfiture may HE Is GETTING SO DEAF HE CAN HARDLY HEAR A WORD you say!” e good Doctor, “honteux et confus,” concludes little Martha is more “wide awake” than he thought and secretly hopes We fear he will again be disappointed.) never come to the ears of Mr. Punch. “rom an American seed catalogue :— “Our Jumbo tomatoes, if planted in April, will be ready for the table in March.” Evidently some more of this Amer- ican citerprise of which we hear so much. “‘T an: not prepared to undo the work of centuries’ said Mr. Bottomley.”—Daily Paper. It is our feeling that it was quite un- fair to take Mr. Bottomley unawares that. He should have been given at ae ten minutes to prepare for such a task | “A skull, believed to be that of a prehis- toric man, was unearthed in Dorsetshire. It was in perfect condition, in spite of the rough handling given it by the workmen who dug it up."—Provincial Paper. | Pos: a progenitor of the hard- headed American business-man who is ly so often held up to us as a model—by hard-headed American business-men. “ ‘There really has been no dissatisfaction with the management of the institution to cause us to investigate,’ said the Chairman at the start of the investigation.”—Daily Paper. Then why investigate? Another Intimation of Immortality. “Deap Sea Rises To Recorp LeveL.” —Manchester Paper. “The highest previous production record was made last August when 0,000 employees turned out 109,000 cars.”—American Paper. Startling corroboration of the Labor- ites’ claim that in a few years labor- saving devices will have crowded the working-man to the wall. “Mr. M—— informed our correspondent that the only feeling he had in the matter was one of egret.”—Provincial Paper. Obviously a feather in his cap. “Peer in Winpow Jeerep By Mos.” * —Sunday Paper. Are we in for another epidemic of Peeping Toms? “For Sale, Iron lady's bed-room set.” —Provincial Paper. We feel sure that all those inter- ested in history will relish this recently- unearthed evidence of the human side of that otherwise indomitable Iron Maiden of the Inquisition. “Heavy rainfall is reported from all sec- tions of the Pyrenees.”—Daily Paper. Mr. Lloyd George should be told of this. comicbooks.com