Life, 1924-12-18 · page 11 of 37
Life — December 18, 1924 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct pieces of satirical content: 1. **"Ballade of Christmas Disgust"** by Baron Ireland: A poem lamenting wartime hardships during what appears to be WWI—rising prices, shortages (mercury, coal), illness, and domestic frustrations. It's framed as bitter complaints disguised with forced holiday cheer. 2. **"Three Fish Stories"**: A brief humorous anecdote about landing fish and discussing their weight, with a cartoon showing a friendly dog in a fishbowl. The joke appears to be about exaggeration or misunderstanding. 3. **"Down with the Trees!"** by Olga Owens: Satirizes urban residents' calls to remove street trees, arguing they obstruct views and harbor insects. She sarcastically defends trees' value and suggests cutting radio antennas instead—mocking misplaced priorities. All reflect wartime anxieties and social complaints.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
- LIFE > Ballade of Christmas Disgust "ee mercury’s lower and coal is higher; The cook’s just told us she cannot stay; st night in a snowstorm I blew a tire; \ check I expected has gone astray; he Germans still holler that they can't pay; caught a bad cold (it’s the flu, I fear) ; yt life lovely and—tschoo!—and gay? Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! ly wife's been at me two months to buy her \ new fur coat. Can you beat that, eh? So maybe daddykins won't perspire Vhen he hands her those hankies on Christmas Day! m falling off in my iron play 1 losing te dubs that I used to smear. Of ligitt in my darkness there’s not a ray. rry Christmas and Happy New Year! dry laws are rapidly growing drier And the hooch we're getting grows worse, I'll say. ist got stung in an oil-stock flier; D'ye wonder my whiskers are turning gray? jc's always like that—when my point’s six-trey e dice just seven me under the ear! { feel like jumping in New York Bay. rry Christmas and Happy New Year! L’Envor. ybe you'll have ’em—I hope you may; {tut that’s a phrase I don’t want to hear. nw the—how do they get that way? \erry Christmas and Happy New Year? Baron Ireland. Three Fish Stories A FTER three hours and a half we landed him, and he tipped the scales at just two hundred and seventy-four ands.” “Any one fishing off this property will be severely prose- ted.” I tell you it was the finest filet of sole I ever tasted, | for the three of us it came to only nincty cents.” D AREST,” said Fauntleroy, pushing the new book aside with a sad little smile, “didn’t they have any id-word puzzles?” ANDErson — The Pup: e's CERTAINLY A FRIENDLY LITTLE CUSS—HE KEEPS WAGGING HIS TAIL AT ME. “cooD WILL TOWARD MEN” Down with the Trees! FE NUGHTENED city dwellers everywhere are chopping down the trees. Are you among them? Trees shut out views of the neighbors’ doings, hide the friendly glow of the street lamps, and are a real menace to the jolly, uncon- ventional motorist who likes to r along the sidewalk. Artistically, trees are fussily Victor A simple, stately telegraph pole is far more in keeping with the present day Do you want your children to be nervous wrecks? The constant sight of agitatedly fluttering leaves is a bad in- fluence on young nerves. Bring up the kiddies in the shade of the good old filling station. Remember what little acorns do! It is far easier to chop down a sapling than an oak. Hitch your radio antenne to a chimney! Let us strive for a treeless Christmas! Olga Owens. Simple-Entendre IRST STENOGRAPHER: There was an awful lot of double meanings in that show. Seconp Ditto: Yeah; but sometimes there was only one, and you couldn't help getting it. comicbooks.com