Life, 1924-09-25 · page 35 of 37
Life — September 25, 1924 — page 35: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct pieces: **"The Perplexed Poet"** is a humorous poem playing with English language irregularities—how verbs change unpredictably (bake/baken, shake/shook, take/took). The joke satirizes the illogical nature of English grammar itself. **"Reflections of a Mother-in-Law"** humorously contrasts women's political roles past and present. A woman recalls the 1896 McKinley election when wives silently supported husbands' political activities. She observes her daughter-in-law now attending political meetings herself, suggesting changing women's participation in politics—though the narrator suggests women should "purify" politics without "denaturing" it, reflecting ambivalent attitudes toward female political engagement in this era. **The remaining content is a General Motors advertisement** about their Dayton research laboratories testing automobiles continuously. It's not satirical—purely promotional, emphasizing GM's technical innovation and corporate structure. The page reflects early 20th-century American attitudes toward language, women's roles, and industrial progress.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
) _ BE TFET C= The Perplexed Poet To catch a hake you use a hook; To make a cake you call the cook; That's all quite clear, but when the cake is maken (LE mean to say, when it is mook) How can you bake without a book? And when it has been baken is it caken? The direst quake I ever quook Came when L spake unto a spook; ‘Twas hours and hours before the spell was braken; 1 did not wake until it brook, It could not brake before | wook, And now I cannot tell you what was spaken. I know a rake may be a rook; Once from a snake I slyly snook; But when from limpid lake my thirst I'd slaken, Was I then laken when I slook Or was it that [merely loo! Whene'er ve asked, how swift) my friends have snaken! 1 will betake me to some nook, Unknown to crake and eke to crook, And there, while reason still remains unshaken, Find out why shake should shift to Why take, in turn, will twist to took, But nook won't change to nake crook to eraken! Reflections of a Mother-in-Law “Wuenx Lamech and I lived back in Peoria in 86 women helped eleet McKinley and Hobart but it never got into th’ papers. We did our part by sittin’ up waitin’ for our husbands t’ get home from rallies. The wives and mothers o’ th’ nation conserved th’ in- terests o° th’ part nd contributed th’ victory by pract forbearance in the heat member it th’ heat was intense, Fre- quently when Lamech would return I could not tell whether it was one man or a county convention. it seems funny t’ me to see Min- nie goin’ out to political meetings and Fourth Ward. Harold isn’t a bad sort of a fellow, even if he is my son-in-law, and sometimes [ suspect he wishes he could go out to a pow-wow, long as he likes and come home sort o° independent, like Lamech used to. “It is all right for women to purify politics but there’s no call for them to denature it.” McC. H. 4 “Wuy do they put holes in Swiss cheese?” “To ventilate it.” Day and Night in Dayton Day and night automobiles are being driven until they are worn out by the General Mo- tors Research Laboratories, at Dayton, O. Throughout the long steady grind, mate- rials and designs are analyzed; performance, wear and repairs are tabulated. Thus are discovered facts which point the way to the further improvement of General Motors cars and accessory products. The Research Laboratories, the largest of their kind, are made possible by the fact that General Motors is a family of many companies—all of which are served by the parent organization. GENERAL MOTORS Buick + Capmiac + CHevroLer + OAKLAND Oupsmosite - GMC Trucks General Motors cars, trucks and Delco-Light products may be purchased on the GMAC Payment Plan. Insurance Service furnished by General Exchange Corporation. comicbooks.com