Life, 1923-10-11 · page 15 of 36
Life — October 11, 1923 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains **fabricated fables** and a single cartoon illustration. The main visual satirizes literary pretension and censorship. The cartoon depicts a social scene where Mr. Biddle appears surprised that someone would write books like "Flappers in Flames," while Miss Suckling responds that she may write "questionable" books but never reads them—a jab at authors who produce sensational material without engaging seriously with literature. The fables above (including "The Hare and the Tortoise" and "The Man and the Elevated") offer moral lessons, while the "Mah Jong" poem section suggests the page mixed humor, satire, and light verse typical of Life's satirical content during the 1920s Jazz Age.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Fabricated Fables The Hare and the Tortoise A HARE was once kidding a Tor- toise about his slow gait, when to every one’s surprise the old Shell- back up and challenged the Hare for a Mile Dash. When the Wise Boys had done laughirg, the odds at once went to 1,000 to 1 on the Hare and the Day arrived they were 5,000 ainst the Tortoise. To cut a - story short, however, the Tor- toiss won and divided $60,000 with the Hare before they moved on to the next town looking for more Suck- ers Moral Never bet, even on a sure thing— if i can talk, + * * The Man and the Eleoated ce there was a man who was s riding up and down on the ted Railroad. Now, as every one knows, the tracks are laid along- side the second and third floors of thickly populated apart- numerous Yih), YY, f LUM LIFE ment houses of the poorer classes, and it was noticed by everybody who rode with the man that he was always in- tently gazing out of the window. One day he was asked why he constantly kept peering into the homes of people who dwelt alongside the “L” and he replied, “I do it in order to see how these people get along, so that I may upset a proverb that has always an- noyed me.” Moral One-half the world doesn’t know how the other half lives, but ‘the Elevated certainly helps. Gifted “TONES has been arrested for cash- ing checks without having funds in the bank.” “He doesn’t look like a man who would do that.” “That's the reason he could.” OLSTEAD law enforcers and violators have one thing in com- mon: both seek the alcoholic con- tent. Mah Jong SING of thee, Mah Jong, Kin of the late Ping Pong, Native of far Hong Kong, Mah Jong. Characters may go wrong, Dragons may feel the prong, East winds may blow too strong, Mah Jong, Still flowers may bloom, Mah Jong. Circles to me belong, And I shall chant ding dong, Mah Jong. Pung! and I strike the gong, Chow! and I sing my song, Pay as I go along, Mah Jong. Ah! luck is gone, Mah Jong, Now I have hit the prong, Take it away, Go ‘long, Mah Jong. H. K. Rowe. I’M SURPRISED, MR. BIDDLE, THAT YOU SHOULD WRITE SUCH A BOOK AS ‘FLAPPERS IN FLAMES,” “AH, MISS SUCKLING, I MAY WRITE QUESTIONABLE BOOKS, BUT I NEVER READ THEM!” comicbooks.com