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Life, 1922-12-28 · page 33 of 37

Life — December 28, 1922 — page 33: what you’re looking at

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Life — December 28, 1922 — page 33: Life, 1922-12-28

What you’re looking at

This satirical piece imagines God dictating Creation to a typist, addressing profound questions about human suffering. God explains he's creating beings with intelligence and sensitivity, but deliberately giving them short lifespans—about seventy years. The typist protests this seems cruel: why make humans capable of grasping happiness if they'll never quite achieve it before dying? God dismisses her sentimentality. The satire critiques theodicy (reconciling God's goodness with human suffering) through this mundane office-worker framing. By making Creation a bureaucratic dictation task, the piece mocks attempts to philosophically justify suffering and mortality as part of divine design. The "typist" represents human perspective questioning divine logic—a common post-WWI concern, given the page's reference to "poisoned gas" and warfare. The dream-ending joke ("How could there have been typewriters?") deflates the whole premise, suggesting such explanations for existence are ultimately absurd.

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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

) =| Lacing Hooks on his shoes would have saved the minutes and ‘‘made the train’’. i ing Hooks be Shoes with Lacing scan bought Insist on having what you want. FREE MENTAL POWER ANALYSIS More: step out of the rut; get somewhere; be some- body. apitalize your mental possibilities and make a real success of Your life, Send for test sheet, of 24 questions on mental subjects, write your answers and recive free analysis of your mental power, by Arthur H. Stevens, whose articles on mental are featured by Public Ledger Syndicate, LaSalle Extension University, Pathe Review, etc. Write for tes. sheet to-day. z PROF. ARTHUR H. STEVENS, Mental Surrey Department, 20 Ninth St, NL W. Washington, D. C. THE SPECULATOR “Marquis, I'll give you a kiss when you give me my letter. “Not until the next advance in pos- tal rates, Countess.’” Lustige Blatter (Berlin). RIN IRRITATED BY SUN,WIND,DUST &.CIND RECOMMENDED & SOLD BY DRUGGISTS & OPTICIANS WATE FOR FREE EYE CARE BOOK MURINE CO. CHICACOUSE IGARS “MADE AT KEY WEST— ‘LIFE .: The Bon Dieu and the Typist (Continued from page 22) Testament, poisoned gas, William Hohenzollern—” “Not quite so fast, please. do you spell the last?” “H-o-h-e-n—hohen—z-o-l-l-e-r-n. That will do for the moment.” “What length of life will you give them?” “IT was thinking of about seventy years.” “Isn't it rather hard to make them so clever and so appreciative and then cut off their lives so short?” “Why ?” “Tt seems to me that you should either make them less self-conscious and sensitive and capable, and give them a brief life, or, having made them so wonderful, let them have a real chance to do something. It looks to me as if they will begin to decay almost before they are mature.” “T’ve thought about that. That’s all right. That’s part of the scheme.” “And they’ll always be nearly grasping happiness, but not quite?” “Yes! “But if ever they should grasp it, the present will instantly be the past?” “Yes.” ‘ “How terrible! Poor man!” said the typist. “I hope in so brief a space some of his affections may be strong and beautiful enough to atone a little.” “I think we can manage that,” said the Bon Dieu. “But don’t be so sentimental, Miss Giving. And now you can go to lunch, and let me have a fair transcript of the notes after. We'll make to-morrow the first day. Let’s see, what do we begin with?” “Light.” “Oh, yes, light.” How It was then that I woke up. “Is it conceivable,’ I have asked more than one of my friends, “that it all began like that?” “But how could there have been typewriters?” they have said. “Im- possible!” I agree. A Shirker Mrs. Parke: My husband doesn’t look well—he seems quite thin and tired. Mrs. Lane: You thaven’t said that to him, have you? Mrs. Parke: Oh dear, no; I thought you would rather tell him yourself. There he stands—old Rameses—as his people built him two thousand years ago, Pharaoh of all the Pharaohs. Stand before him today and you go with him, to the blasts of trumpets, tearing up the sands of Egypt in his chariots of War. But Rameses is only one incident of a thousand — mystery, history and ro- mance—which will fill to overflowing the 66 wonderful days this Winter on the Cruise of the Mauretania The Luxurious TO THE Mediterranean The Seventh Sea of Delight Sailing from New York Feb. 7th Returning to New York April 13th Of all the fascinating opportunities for travel this Winter, there is none to com- pare, from any point of view, with this epoch making Cruise under the experi- enced management of the American Express Travel Department. The Mauretania will be your home all the way. Every luxury and comfort on this Blue Ribbon Cunarder is assured. Leisurely inland excursions with every detail carefully planned for personal comfort and enjoyment: — AZORES, MADEIRA, GIBRALTAR, CADIZ, ALGIERS, MONTE CARLO, NAPLES, THE DARDANELLES, CONSTANTI- NOPLE, ATHENS, PALESTINE, ALEXANDRIA, Up the Nile to the FIRST CATARACT; CORSICA, the home of Napoleon, LISBON, SOUTHAMPTON, LONDON (5 days), CHERBOURG. ALSO: The Pacific Liner “Ebro” to SOUTH AMERICA 68 days across and below the Equator From New York January 24, 1923 Visiting the most interesting ports including Robinson Crusoe’s Island—across the Andes * Mountains. 8 days at Rio. eH card eenien Centennial Exposition). $1890 and up. several special tours to the Brazilian Exposition up to February 17. For full particulars, call or phone any American Express office or write AMERICAN EXPRESS Travel Department | 65 BROADWAY, NEW YORK comicbooks.com