Life, 1922-06-29 · page 5 of 35
Life — June 29, 1922 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains several sections: memoir chapters about riverboat and railroad experiences, a poem titled "The Perennial" about a magical rose in Xanadu, and a cartoon at the bottom. The cartoon depicts a man and woman in an intimate domestic setting. The caption reads: "She: Have any of your boyish ambitions been realized? He: Yes, when my mother used to cut my hair I often wished I might be bald-headed." This is a humorous domestic joke playing on marital dynamics. The wife asks about his youthful aspirations; the husband's response—that his childhood wish (to be bald, avoiding haircuts) has been "realized" through natural baldness—is self-deprecating comedy about aging and hair loss, common satirical targets in early 20th-century humor magazines.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
plenty of detours. I never liked writing. It tired my fingers. In fact, | was 42 years old before I sent my first collect telegram. CHAPTER VI I rigged up my first flivver. Folks laughed at me. That is a habit they never got over. But statistics show that one dollar lent me at that time would be worth $15,000 to-day. I love statistics. Statistics are not bunk CHAPTER VII Many years pass. Fortunes smile on me. Everything I touch turns to tin. | can remember when they counted up the world’s richest men and | stood second. I can remember when they counted up the votes for Senator from Michigan. I stood on that count, too. Money is g tome now. With one hand ip a railroad. With the other a weekly paper. People ride both. CHAPTER VII I tried to get the boys out of the trenches by Christmas. But you nothi I buy I star them She: LIFE can’t get peace on earth by sailing ships. It was good advertising, though. The boat landed in Sweden and I landed on the front page all over this country. I proved to the world I did things boldly. In mak- ing flivvers I shipped bolts in car- load lots. In making peace I shipped nuts in shipload lots. Give me credit, boys. CHAPTER IX I remember the day I bid for Mus- cle Shoals. It will be a boon if I get that place. Boon, not bone. Muscles must be raised in larger quantities if people are going to keep on cranking my cars. CHAPTER X In closing, I would say that I de- sire nothing, seek nothing. I might run for President, if assured of the flivver and pedestrian vcie. If I run, however, I must have Edsel accom- pany me as Vice-President. And if elected, I'll resign and make Edsel President. Chicago papers please N. R. O’H. The Perennial MID the bowers of Xanadu There blooms a magic rose, Nodding its head by Khama’s rill To every breeze that blows. Hard by the glowing blossom hangs A mirror, dight with gold: Around it mystic characters This hidden message hold: “The maid who plucks the magic rose Shall win a wondrous dower: But she who spies this mirror first Can never touch the flower.” * oe * The feet of forty thousand maids Have trod by Khama’s rill: Amid the bowers of Xanadu The rose is blooming still! M. R. Up in the Air Visitor (in Arkansas): the altitude of this town? Native: Mostly Baptist. What's Have any of your boyish ambitions been realized? Yes, when my mother used to cut my hair I often wished I might be bald-headed. comicbooks.com