Life, 1925-02-19 · page 11 of 37
Life — February 19, 1925 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Cartoon: "A Difficult Business"** Hamilton Cady's illustration depicts Santa Claus struggling with an ice-house pump, surrounded by elves engaged in winter labor. The caption jokes that Santa must refill his ice-house annually—a reference to the 19th-century practice of harvesting and storing ice for summer use. The humor lies in applying mundane household maintenance to Santa's magical operations, deflating the fantasy with practical domestic reality. **Bottom Content:** Brief anecdotes follow, including a joke about a dentist's poor work ("They might at least put a temporary filling in that cavity"). The section titled "Police Efficiency in Mediæval Scotland" references historical mishaps. The remaining text contains an anecdote about an elderly man's multiple mistaken identities, satirizing professional misidentification.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“ yd HaRnisen CADY Irate Mr, Bug: JiMixy CRICKETS, THIS IS FIERCE LUCK! YEAR, OLD SILAS CHICKWEED COMES ALONG AND GOES TO THAWING OUT THE Fame N old man shambled down the street. He wore a dirty gray hat, a creased black coat with a velvet col- cufiless trousers and broken shoes. oat sleeves were frayed and the nholes hopelessly enlarged. The ‘ar was bent and torn, and a frazzled ie exposed a bright collar button. A minister passing him thought he was a book seller. A housewife classified him as a tax collector. A bookkeeper said: “There goes an- other bookkeeper.” A student thought he was a janitor. A stenographer mistook him for an insurance agent. A newspaper reporter believed him to be an editor. A dowager regarded him as a tramp and offered him fifty cents for lunch. He was Professor Francis St. J. Hardan, head of the history depart- ment of Esek Greene College, author A DIFFICULT BUSINESS of three volumes on European history and politics, and lately made an hon- orary Chevalier of the Crown of Italy: H.M. H. MERICA has 2,200,000 golfers and 109,999,999 people dressed for the part. Dentist: HERE EVERY TIME I START TO FILL UP MY ICE-IOUSE FOR THE Y PUMP, Police Efficiency in Medieval Scotland HE Messenger had just sight of Birnam Wood marching upon Dunsinane, and turned to Macbeth. “Your Majesty,” he cried, “cheese it! The copse!” caught THEY MIGHT AT LEAST PUT A TEMPORARY FILLING IN THAT CAVITY, comicbooks.com