Life, 1923-11-29 · page 11 of 38
Life — November 29, 1923 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct pieces: **"How Tommy Catenary Lost His Sincew"**: A whimsical bedtime story by a mathematician about a boy named Tommy Polygon who enters the fourth dimension and encounters Jimmy Polygon. The narrative is a playful pun-filled tale mixing geometric terminology with children's adventure, seemingly satirizing overly intellectual storytelling. **Two Editorial Cartoons**: 1. **"Mr. Jones"** (top): Shows a chaotic domestic scene with the caption about hitting "the nail on the thumb," likely satirizing clumsiness or DIY mishaps. 2. **"The Well-dressed Woman"** (bottom): Depicts a woman telling a man she's changing clothes because her shoes hurt—a commentary on the tension between fashion/appearance standards and physical comfort for women. Both cartoons use humor to critique social conventions of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
How Tommy Catenary Lost His Sinecw 1 Bedtime Story by a Mathematician HERE was a great bustle in the big woods that night when little immy Polygon peered out of the fourth dimension just as old Gibbous, the Moon, lit his pale lantern. For a long time Tommy Catenary had lain juiet in the hollow tree listening to \unt Hypotenuse and Uncle Binomial 1ewing a lot of square roots. He remembered the words of Daddy Tri- agle (who had had an attack of ulytical analy and couldn't walk). Don't let me catch you playing with those common divisors again; for if I do I'll lay you across my parabola and paddle you well!” Not that Tommy Catenary was afraid. Oh, no! But he ccollected how Jimmy Polygon had ireatened to take his sinocw away from im. And he loved his little sincew. Suddenly Aunt Hypotenuse looked down at him. “Shake .a leg there, lommy Catenary,” she cried, “and run over to the fourth dimension iss Corollary’s altitude.” Tommy Catenary didn’t want to go, but just then Uncle Binomial bit off such a big piece of cube root, and glowered so and borrow \ Mr, Jones: WELL, I GUESS THAT HIT THE NAIL Tawar gan MAE ON THE THUMB. (Seen in the Daily Item.) Mysterious Accident _ Mr. Amos Jones, well-known resident of Belle Terre, in the street in front of his residence at 7.01 P.M. yesterda found unconscious A passing motorist rushed him to the Emergency Hospital where he has not regained consciousness. It is believed he was hit by a truck. fiercely at Tommy that he scampered off clippity-clippity. Now, when poor little Tommy rounded the corner of the fourth dimension, out jumped bad Jimmy Polygon, and Tommy was so scared that he dropped his sinaxw, and what do you think? pounced right on it. (To-morrow I shall tell you all how Willie Calculus found the Cider, and drank an unknown quantity.) David McCord. Jimmy Polygon Yes, siree. The Well-dressed Woman: 1M GOING UPSTAIRS TO CHANGE ALL MY CLOTHES. MY SHOES HURT ME, comicbooks.com