Life, 1925-04-02 · page 14 of 44
Life — April 2, 1925 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two pieces of satirical content about travel: **"The Perfect Traveler"** (top) uses poetic verse to mock the ideal passenger—someone who doesn't complain about uncomfortable seats, missed connections, or poor dining car food. The satire suggests travelers were chronically dissatisfied with rail travel experiences. **The motorist cartoon** (bottom) satirizes early automobile travel hazards. A motorist asks about road conditions; a Native American ("Natie") responds that roads are passable only if you stop at "Zeb Hoskin's hotel," implying that roadside establishments profited from travelers stranded by poor road conditions. This mocks both terrible roads and the business opportunism they enabled in the early automotive era.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
COMPETITION The Perfect Traveler IF the seats are on the sunny side of the car, she just adores sunshine. If the lowers are all taken, she thinks the uppers are so much fun. If she misses her connection, she makes one feel as if that were what she intended to do all along. She thinks the food in the diner the best she ever tasted. She is the perfect traveler. She must exist somewhere. McC. HL. N these days of padlocked cabarets, the keys to the city mean something. Nes Peps Diary Lay late, reading the publick prints and marveling at the style which the writers of commercial advertisements have devel- cped, for some of them do go back to the days of Marie Antoinette in order to sell a pocket handkerchief. Then did I give some thought to the dinner 1 am planning for Samucl’s birthday, mindful of what H. Mencken says to the effect that it is impossible to ar- range such a function without includ- ing at least one bore—either an egoist, a politician, somebody who has travelled or a follower of baseball, and albeit I can manage to avoid such candidates, 1 cannot entirely gainsay Mr. Mencken, forasmuch as I am obliged to invite Larry Gilroy, who is disturbingly san- guine. Lord! can anything be more tiresome than a person who is always cheerful?...To the sempstress this day to be fitted for my new black silk coat, which I pray to God I do not lose through my innate abandonment in the Spring with wraps and fur neckpieces. Grace Andrus in early from Morristown, fret- March © ting over the sum she hath pledged to raise for 27th . 3 5 ‘i the Cathedral Fund, and desirous of advice about a business enterprise which will assemble the money most specdily, so I did suggest bootlegging, but cannot say if aught will come of it. G. did tell me that at a recent (Continued on page 33) Motorist: WoW ARE THE ROADS HERE? ARE WE LIKELY TO GET STUCK? Native: NOT UNLESS YE STOP AT ZEB HOSKIN’S HOTEL. comicbooks.com