Life, 1922-07-06 · page 11 of 36
Life — July 6, 1922 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a poem titled "Ensuite" about American war dead buried in France, followed by a single-panel cartoon below it. **The cartoon** depicts figures in what appears to be an afterlife or cemetery setting. Two women are shown among tall grave markers or monuments. One woman says to another: "I've prayed and prayed for a new hat, but I haven't got one yet." The second responds: "Why don't you try crying?" **The satire** appears to mock materialism and frivolity—specifically, women's obsession with fashion (hats) even in the face of death and mourning. The juxtaposition with the solemn war-dead poem above creates ironic contrast, suggesting the living remain preoccupied with vanity while soldiers lie dead abroad. The joke implies emotional manipulation ("try crying") as a means to obtain worldly goods.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIFE Frenzid Guff, a Soviet trade commissioner, in Paris, at a recent ball to commemorate victory, stepped on the toes of Mesdames L’Ard, Watteau and Jenkins. Reparations demanded for chiropodist’s charges. Ad- vance is expected on the Ruhr. Lloyd George makes a hole in one. Summer, 1921 Lenine’s razor discovered to be of German origin. Experts regard this as proof of collusion with Germany. To avert war, L’Homme Nutte advises immediate cessation of peace. Coal industry in England on verge of dis- aster. Much unemployment due to loss of trade by delivery of German coal to France in payment of indemnities. Ad- vance on Ruhr anticipated. \Winter, 1922 French agents find German Landsturmer sleeping in a haystack. Secret mobiliza- tion of Prussian forces feared. 1949 class called for service on Ruhr. Spring, 1922 Nietzsche’s “Genealogy of Morals” found in hands of French schoolgirl. France demands cessation of German propaganda. In the event of non-compliance, advance— Here, for the moment, our history ceases. What lies ahead, none but the editor of Le Temps knows. In the meantime, your historian will go on taking notes, and, at some future date, issue another history supplementary to this, provided he can keep out of the way of the pro- posed French advance on the Ruhr. J. H. Ensuite “The rest of the American War-dead will be left buried in the French cemeteries.” ENEATH the bloodied loam of France they lie, Where marched the armies of the Meuse in might; Where shells, like yellow poppies in the sky Stood out against the sable of the night. Where rolled the khaki-brown, historic tide, Along the fallow fields that steel had tilled; They planted pearl-white blossoms, crimson-dyed, And left them there to flower as they willed. What matter that they rest in foreign soil? They went in pride to seek a Golden Fleece: Peace in a world that still in endless moil Values its gewgaw theories more than peace. Whether we lift them up or let them stay Can be of little moment to the slain; But this clear call-is blazoned down the way: “That these our dead shall not have died in vain.” Beneath the bloodied loam of France they rest, The ghostly armies of a sister land; That France know us at last is their bequest; That we know France, and better understand. W. D. Some people get so used to being looked up to that they carry their pedestals around with them. “I’ve prayed ‘and prayed for a new hat, but I haven't got one yet.” “Why don’t you try crying?” comicbooks.com