Life, 1923-01-18 · page 31 of 36
Life — January 18, 1923 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a **book review in verse** (left) and a **Bell Telephone System advertisement** (center/right). **The Rhymed Review** satirizes contrasting national character types: Neale, a roughhewn American boy raised freely in New Jersey with unstructured education, versus Marise, a refined French girl trained in artificial manners and European sophistication. The joke is that when they meet in Europe, Neale's artless honesty and American straightforwardness win her over—suggesting American authenticity triumphs over Old World pretension. This reflects 1920s-era American confidence in democratic informality versus European artificiality. **The Bell Advertisement** uses dramatic imagery (telephone workers battling nature in blizzards, mountains, deserts) to celebrate telephone infrastructure as essential American progress. The messaging emphasizes reliability and sacrifice: "Whatever else may fail, the telephone service must not fail." Both pieces celebrate American exceptionalism—one through individual character, one through technological achievement—typical of the era's optimistic nationalism.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Rhymed Reviews Rough-Hewn y Canfield. Harcourt, Brace & Co. Neale, of old Green Mountain stock, ‘as reared in Union Hill, New Above the harbor whither flock s of Plymouth, Clyde and While fair Marise was bred in France (In Culture, too, and strict de- corum), Who'd ever dream they'd find the chance To stroll Forum? together ’round the Neale’s parents both, a worthy pair, Allowed him every simple plea- They him unobtrusive care With freedom, Boyhood's greatest t ure. Unchecked by arbitrary rules, He gathered sundry bits of knowl- edge In baseball lots and private schools, And took the football course in college. Marise, where false ideas are rife, cquired notions prejudi ippiness in married life With manners, fine but artificial. When Neale, as fated, met Marise While spending several months in Europe (He'd crossed the palpitating seas ightly damaged heart to cure | Whatever else may Linking city, village and farm, crossing mountain and wilderness, the telephone system challenges Nature in her strong- holds and battles her fiercest moods. Out on his lonely “‘beat”’ the telephone trouble-hunter braves the blizzard on snow-shoes, body bent against the wind, but eyes intent upon the wires. North, south, east, west—in winter and summer, in forest and desert—the telephone workers guard the highways of com- munication. Traveling afoot where there are no roads, crawl- ing sometimes on hands and knees, riding on burros, or motor- fail cycles, or trucks, they “get there” as they can. When Nature rages to that point where few things can stand against her, when property is destroyed and towns cut off, the telephone is needed more than ever. No cost is too much, no sacrifice too great, to keep the wires open. If telephone poles come down with the storm, no matter how distant they may be, no matter how difficult to reach, somehow a way is found, some- how— in blizzard, hurricane, or flood—the service is restored. ‘Whatever else may fail, the telephone service must not fail, if human effort can prevent it. This is the spirit of the Bell System. “BELL SYSTEM” AND ASSOCIATED COMPANIES One Policy, One System, Universal Service, and all directed toward Better Service He shocked her, first,—the artless youth,— By speaking neither cutely The straight, uncompromising truth, Which later won her absolutely. well nor So thus we leave them hand-in- hand To prove how far the preparation For life in vogue in this free land Excels old-world sophistication. A. G. Sail and Motor BOATS Sturdy Craft at Moderate Prices Inquire About Our Boardman-Hoyt Five-meter Racing and Our Coupe Automobile Boat with Electric Self-starter Cape Cod Shipbuilding Corp. Wareham, Massachusetts Design nockabout comicbooks.com