Life, 1923-03-29 · page 5 of 40
Life — March 29, 1923 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes legal restrictions on artistic expression, likely regarding censorship or morality laws. The poem criticizes arbitrary regulations—questioning why flowers must be blue, why birds must refrain from singing in spring, why a chrysalis can't become a butterfly. The underlying complaint: beauty itself is being treated as criminal. The illustration shows a reclining woman being observed by two men in formal dress, suggesting voyeurism or scandal. The caption joke about opera scoring ("just so it doesn't go extra innings") appears to mock prudish audience concerns about length and propriety. The satire targets what the author considers absurd legal/social constraints on natural beauty and artistic freedom—the "lawless" title ironically referring to those enforcing arbitrary restrictions on life itself.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Lawless W HEN the buds are ripe to blossom in the balmy air of spring, And there’s perfume in the breezes and new life in every- thing, Must they hesitate to bloom again as they were wont to do When the chrysalis is longing to become a butterfly, And display its gleaming glories ere its hour of life goes by, Must it check its wish to free itself, and on its wings to climb, Because we have a statute that their color must be blue? Because its wings are beautiful—and ‘beauty is a crime? Must robin, wren and oriole, and all the birds that sing, Abstain from paying tribute with their music to the spring ?— Alas, I hardly dare to ask, I’m really scared because In rhyming in an idle way perhaps /’m breaking laws. She: Are you familiar with the score of this opera? He: No! But never mind the score—just so it doesn’t go extra innings! comicbooks.com