Life, 1928-05-24 · page 29 of 38
Life — May 24, 1928 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes parental complaints about children's lying. Two mothers commiserate about their sons—Bobby and Junior—who tell elaborate falsehoods. The humor lies in the mothers' self-righteousness: they claim to teach honesty while gossiping and judging neighbors (Bobby's friend is dismissed as a "guttersnipe" from the lower-class Canal Street district), revealing their own moral inconsistency. The accompanying horse illustration ("You Can Lead a Horse to Water") extends the proverb: despite the owner's efforts to get the horse to drink, the animal refuses—a visual metaphor for the impossibility of forcing virtue or obedience, paralleling the mothers' futile parenting struggles. The page is primarily advertising for Dunlop golf balls and Swank collar pins, positioned around the satirical content.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Cia you ever heard ar wone ails done ox ile i lan a DUNLOP ? THE IMPORTED BLACK DUNLOP No Uncertain Terms “Honestty, Ethel, I have the worst time with Bobby! He tells me the most awful fibs!"” “My dear, I wish you could hear Junior! The truth is simply not in him.” “They don’t seem to know the dif- ference between what's real and what's imaginary. Why, yesterday Bobby came hone with a black e e, and he made up the killingest story of how he got it. He said he stepped on a rake!” “I uy to teach Junior what is right and what is wrong, but he persists in telling the most outrageous whoppers! Made out of whole cloth, most of them.” “IT don’t mind a little evasion on Bobby's part, but I have to spank him when he tells me a deliberate untruth. I found him in a dark closet the other day, all by himself; and when I asked him what he was doing there, he said he was just waiting for a street-car.” “The little prevaricator!” “He's full of falsehoods... . . Here comes the little rascal now.” “Hello, Mamma! Hello, Mrs. Funk! Say, Mamma, you know as much as Bill Bacigalupo, don’t you?” “Why, yess of course. What is it, my little man?” “Well, I told Bill that babies were brought by the stork, and he said they weren't at all! He said they. ” “Bobby! Stop this instant! What do you mean by going around with those nasty boys from Canal Street? You can tell that Bacigalupo guttersnipe that he has no business talking the way he does; and what is more, he’s a dirty little liar!” N.R.]. “You Can Lead a Horse to Water. “Come along, Bess! Clek, clck!"” “Phumphwa! Swish!” “Come on, now, like a good girl. Nice watering trough, just across the street.” “Swish, swish! Houyhnnee!” “You'll like it, once you're in Clop, clop, clop, clop—"phwnawhoo!”* —clop, kaclop, kaclop. “Now, here we are, Bess, old girl! Drink, pretty creature, drink.” “Swish.” “Check rein too tight Now we're all hunky-dory “Champ, champ, grunch: snaffwhraw- hoooce!"” “Come on, Bess. Nice watering trough. Donated by Mr. Stanley W. Ketch, April 12, 1887. You couldn't ask for any- thing better than that, could you?” “Humph.” “Oh, well, to hell with it. Clek, clck, giddap!” “Clop, clop, cloppity, cloppity, kaclop- pit, kacloppit, kaclop.’ SWANK.. more thana collarpin WHAT is a collar-pin—if not a safety-pin in disguise? Collar- pins have never been more than makeshifts! They put holes in collars. They jab necks. And millions of men have refused to use them— have preferred to wear soft collars untidily. Unfastened. Swank has all the smartness of a collar-pin. It doesn’t pin collars, but holds them trimly, firmly, securely. Swank means more comfort and less loss of time and temper for well- dressed meneverywhere! Made in gold-filled and solid gold. In plain and engraved de- signs. Priced from 50c to $5, at your jeweler’s or men’s shop. The Baer & Wilde Co., Attleboro, Mass. SWAN K looks like a pin, but isn’t qT est, quickest, most convenient cuff tons there are! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALAL comicbooks.com