Life, 1924-05-15 · page 7 of 46
Life — May 15, 1924 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This poem by Arthur Guiterman celebrates the "Independent Farmer" as a virtuous figure who avoids urban vices—the "Wicked City" with its gambling, drinking, and moral corruption. The farmer maintains integrity through hard work and temperance. The illustration shows two figures in rural dress discussing farming life, with farmhouses and agricultural activity in the background. The caption quotes advice against voting, suggesting farmers should avoid Washington politics, which the poem implies would compromise their independence and virtue. This reflects early 20th-century agrarian ideology: farmers as morally superior to urban populations, and political detachment as preferable to involvement in what was viewed as a corrupt system. It romanticizes rural life as a bastion of American virtue against urban decadence.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
8616188 The Independent Farmer COME. all who walk the ways of si: Oh, not fe That mark the Wicked City He trai Where furtive flows forbidden gin Attend a simple ditty Of one who, far beyond the beat aves Of any wild alarmer, > Ale Imbibes his cherry-cordial, neat— The Independent Farmer ! grape se spirit triple-starr the blowsy charmer lative cider, har He flouts the dreadful demon Rum And twin-born -Tom-and-Jerry His brandy smacks of peach and plum His wine of elderberry. He scorns to spend his toil-won peli For Beer, the frothy barmer Because he brews the stuff himself The Independent Farmer ! “NO, I CERTAINLY ain't GOIN’ TO VOTE THIS YEAR—NOT FOR NOBODY, TAKE MY ADVICE SIMKINS—THERE’S THINGS A-GOIN' ON IN WASHIN'TON THAT YOU AN’ ME IS JEST AS WELL OUT comicbooks.com