Life, 1925-12-17 · page 16 of 40
Life — December 17, 1925 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two satirical pieces targeting Christmas excess and wealth inequality: **"In Dayes of Olde"** (top): A medieval-themed comic mocking overprotective parenting. Rascally Varlet tells armored boys they can't blow real trumpets, only toy ones—a joke about parents restricting children's activities due to safety concerns or cost. **"The First Hour"** (middle): Edgar debates whether to blow his toy trumpet, satirizing how children receive cheap imitation toys rather than genuine articles—commentary on consumer culture and false advertising aimed at children. **"Not an Amateur Job"** (bottom): A village gossip claims wealthy millionaires became rich through dishonest dealings ("slippin' it over"), suggesting wealth accumulation involved moral shortcuts—social satire on gilded-age excess and questionable business practices. The page critiques consumerism, parental anxiety, and economic inequality circa early 1900s.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
IN DAYES OF OLDE Kascally Varlet: NOW THAT I'VE GOT YOUR HELMETS ALL LOCKED ON, BOYS, I'LL ATTEND TO YE JOB OF KISSING YON + you cannot have that “N°: Ed, trumpet—it belongs there right on the tree where Santa Claus put it. Santa Claus wanted you to sce the trumpet— pretty trumpet—but not to fave the trumpet—no, no. Edgar couldn't have trumpet, Edgar sce trumpet—pretty trumpet. Blow it? Oh, no, Edgar mustn't blow trumpet, just look at trumpet—and all the pretty things. See, there’s a fairy, and a violin, and a birdie in a nest, and a candy cane— oh, what a pretty candy cane!—no, Zdgar couldn't have the candy cane, just look at it—and an owl, and a star —oh, see the bright pretty star—and a cornucopia, and a bell—no, NO, mustn't ring bell, be!l might break—and that’s a trumpet, the same trumpet—no, I do declare, it’s another trumpet! Two trumpets—one trumpet here and one trumpet there. No, Ed- gar couldn't have the trumpets, mustn't a—yes, FAIR MAID BENEATH YE MISTLETOE, The First Hour touch, no, no, just look at the trumpets. Blow them? Well, Mother'll blow the CHRISTMAS LOVE STION FOR A NEW MYTHOLOGICAL COMBINING A CLAUS AND WHILE RETAINING THE BEST FEATURES OF BOTH. FIGURE curip trumpet for Edgar. Sec—bph, bph, bph-ph-ph. Well, well, too bad, trumpet wouldn't blow, would it What, the other trumpet? Blow the other one? Bph, bph, beeph-pht Well, well, th other trumpet didn’t blow either, did it? They weren't real trumpets at all, were they? Just make-believe trumpets. To look at, not to touch—no, NO. Some day Edgar can have a real trumpet to blow. A real trumpet all his own But these, these are just make-believe trumpets to look at, not EDGAR!” town FLW. Not an Amateur Job IRST VILLAGER: They say most of these millionaires got rich by slippin’ it over on us common fellers. Seconp Vittacer: Waal, Jim, ye got to give ’em credit fer bein’ so gol- durned smart. comicbooks.com