Life, 1926-05-06 · page 22 of 52
Life — May 6, 1926 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct pieces of satirical humor: **"The Forgetful Man Makes a Speech"**: A politician delivers a rambling, incoherent speech full of parenthetical asides and name-dropping. The satire targets politicians who lose their train of thought, fail to communicate clearly, and invoke duty and local pride while saying nothing substantive—a timeless critique of empty political rhetoric. **"Lolly Willowes" (Rhymed Review)**: A book review in verse about a woman who escapes conventional domestic life to become a witch in the countryside. The humor lies in presenting witchcraft as liberation from family obligation and praising Satan as "a gentleman"—inverting Victorian morality for comedic effect. **"The Go-Getter"**: A brief joke about a golfer who aggressively digs up the golf course while insisting on self-reliance, then admits financial bankruptcy. The satire mocks the American "self-made man" mythology—someone destroying things while refusing help, yet failing anyway. All three pieces use exaggeration and inversion to mock social pretension and hypocrisy.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A POSITION IN THE NOT APPEAR IN T WEAR THEM ANY MORE “WELL, 1M VERY MUCH RELIEVED TO HEAR THAT.” The Forgetful Man Makes a Speech ADIES and Gentlemen I am only sorry I cannot permit and DUTY interferes— other lovable people and gentlemen port Tam sure will ema (Bill!) Arcopoli Indiana, and I am pr from my friend our city wherever I go James A. Sanaker, very aptly called it and when it comes Rhymed Reviews Lolly Willowes resend Warner The Viking Press HOUGH really sturdy British | raks, They bore the tribal name of Willowes, These honest, formal county folks Whose gravest sins were peccadilloes And Lolly Willowes walked the straight And narrow paths of home and min- ster To find herself at forty-eight Miss Laura Willowes, aunt and spinster. She fled from dusty auntyhood, From petty tasks and obl To ri tic scenes of field and wood Remote from tyrannous relations. But Nepb She ew Titus sought her out uds of aunthood lower ppealing shout w the And sent a wild, To any libera power, And To tease that nephew well, the stupi¢ an heard. He settled do And neatly drove him back to town By stings of wasps and shafts of Cupid. y witch and all that And bound to Satan, though the hitch Does not appear to trouble Lolly She owns her private impish cat, And while averse to witches’ gam At times enjoys a plea With Satan met in w ind ramble Because, whatever faults are his To tell the truth in all its starkness,— M incontestably he is A gentleman, the Prince of Darkness. irthur Guiterman. The Go-Getter “PYON'T help me—I like to dig things out for myself!" exclaimed the near-golfer, as he gouged another chunk from the course ‘} {\s Jim any financial worries?” No, he’s bankrupt.” comicbooks,com