Life, 1922-12-07 · page 14 of 80
Life — December 7, 1922 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a lighthearted narrative poem illustrated with pen-and-ink drawings. It tells the story of a coach journey where two gentlemen and "the loveliest lady" set out together. When the coach stops at a gate, the lady mysteriously disappears—she steps out but never returns to the carriage. The gentlemen continue searching through snow, discovering the lady has arrived home ahead of them. The poem's gentle humor plays on the supernatural or magical nature of her inexplicable vanishing from the coach, suggesting either ghostly qualities or a practical joke at the gentlemen's expense. The illustrations depict the coaches, horses, and snowy landscape with period detail typical of early 20th-century holiday entertainment content.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
CHRISTMAS GUESTS ARTHUR CULTERMAN with drawings — JOHN woltor T ADAMS A™ lurched the coach with a groan and a grunt And two merry gentlemen up in the front Who wished in their hearts they had bargained to ride With the lady, the loveliest lady, inside. «A\ throng at a gate and a welcoming shout; The driver pulled up and the lady stepped out; And the gentlemen mourned as the coach grumbled on That the lady, the loveliest lady, was gone! Alas for the coach where the lady was not! An axletree broke and a wheel went to pot; But the gentlemen both, though the driver might chafe, Rejoiced that the loveliest lady was safe. Then back through the snow did our gentlemen wend To search for what shelter their fortune might send; And the very first house to the right of the road comicbooks.com