Life, 1923-03-22 · page 23 of 36
Life — March 22, 1923 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**The Main Cartoon:** Shows elephants eating from buckets while a uniformed figure watches suspiciously. The caption suggests the peanuts given to the elephants were salted—implying someone sabotaged them, likely as a prank or act of mischief. **"Ptolemaic" (Poem by A.K.):** A satirical defense of outdated astronomical beliefs. The speaker argues for accepting Ptolemy's geocentric model (Earth at center) over modern heliocentric science, claiming ignorance brings comfort. It mocks anti-intellectual attitudes and resistance to scientific progress—a common theme in early 20th-century satire about obscurantism. **"The Reflections of a Mother-in-Law":** A humorous domestic sketch where an overbearing mother-in-law describes her son-in-law Harold and daughter Minnie's "quiet evening"—reading, chatting, playing records repeatedly—as exhausting. The satire targets both the mundane married life and the meddling in-law stereotype. **Brief quips below:** Jokes about melodrama pricing inflation (post-WWI), watch dogs preferring burglars to children, and families hiding "black sheep."
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“Gracious, Annabelle! Ptolemaic \ HEN Ptolemy sat watching from his roof The great stars moving through the purple night, He knew that they went swinging round the earth: And I believe that Ptolemy was right. I snow the moon is but a golden disc Blown across heaven—you see it blowing plainly! I know the world has towering walls of brass Yound which the seas of all the earth beat vainly. ic heaven I know is a more decent cover Than your infinitude of yawning space. IV hat have you gained by making things all over Into a most intolerable place? What does it matter if the earth is round When it is flat‘as far as you can see? And if the earth does circle round the sun— Oh, let me go and talk with Ptolemy ! A. K. Except for the remuneration it brought him, the writ- ing of his “Memoirs” was probably the biggest goose- step the ex-kaiser ever took. THe man who perfected the ten, twenty, thirty melo- drama died recently. Little did he think he would live to see it bringing two, two-fifty and three, plus war tax. ee lla I have a suspicion those peanuts that little boy gave us were salted.” The Reflections of a Mother-in-Law INNIE and Harold spent last evening at home, and they seem to have stood it pretty well for people who are not used to such dissipation. I thought at first they were going to quarrel over who should have their book. You see, they thought that the blue one Minnie got to go with her new draperies was the only one in the house; but I remembered the one on the guest-room night table, so I dusted that off and gave it to Harold. “Well, they read, one on each side of the lamp, just like Lamech and I used to do in the evenings on the farm out in Illinois. And after they had read for five or six minutes, they sat cozily in front of the radiator and chatted about the other people in the building until it was time to start the phonograph. “After they had played the new record fifty or sixty times, Harold said he had a hard day ahead and he thought he’d go to bed. It reminded me of how Lamech used to do when he had to plow the lower forty. And pretty soon, Minnie followed Harold, totally exhausted by their quiet evening at home. To-night they can go out and get rested at a nice supper show.” McC. H. Some watch dogs are very fond of children, but we prefer the kind that are fond of tramps and burglars. Nirp: Oh, most families have a black sheep. Tuck: And they try to keep it dark, too. comicbooks.com