Life, 1883-01-25 · page 7 of 16
Life — January 25, 1883 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of "A Prudent Maiden" This illustration and accompanying dialogue satirize courtship conventions of the Gilded Age. The sketch depicts a young woman rejecting a suitor's marriage proposal, not from lack of affection but from practical financial concerns—a sharp social commentary. The woman lists pragmatic reasons for refusal: the man lacks adequate income, cannot support a household, and has no savings. She fears becoming a "Good Provider's" dependent, unable to afford washing services. The satire targets both rigid gender roles and class anxieties of the period. The "prudent maiden" represents a shift in female agency—she refuses romantic sentiment for economic security. The dialogue mocks both sentimental courtship ideals and the harsh financial realities facing working and middle-class couples in early 20th-century America.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
oe Iw a lucid interval between two accesses of manic a potu, Alg-rn-n Ch-rl-s Sw-n- burn- produced the following : . I. VANDERBILT, what of the night? The market will do for a turn; The divvy the road did not earn Looks well enough in a report; Have we no figures to write ? Statements to swear to at need ? Then, when we sell the stock short, Say, let the Public be d—d. II. Gout, what of the night ? Pools and lawsuits and war, Earnings that cease to grow more, Chromos of beauty, not use; ‘The Public no longer will bite, Though we all have inserted our pegs— We have cut up the sanguine goose, The goose of the golden eggs. . MI. Coxkiine, what of the night ? Far in my own countree, Hunting the counselor's fee. Reading in papers strange words— Slogans, absurd for a fight. A deil of a note they sing, Mote like some mocking bird's Than the true Senatorial ring. Iv. BEECHER, what of the might ? Go not the Gospel blind; An orthodox straddle, I find, Novel, remunerative, Safe and sensational, quit In these days of a flock well read, Ingersoll, Whitman, alive, And Edwards and Emerson dead. Vv. But er, what of the night? Night is the demagogue's noon, Ignorance pipes the tune. The State is Cleon’s baud, And shall dance for his delight; Insolence, envy and greed, Folly and sloth and fraud Yield me a Senator's meed. Vi. Dead men, what of the night? Hear a voice from the grave; See that ye keep what we gave, Union and honor and rest. We that are dead for the night, Cry from the grey of death— See that ye follow the best, Sce that ye lead those beneath. Wuom the gods would destroy they first make other people mad with. A PRUDENT MAIDEN. 1h! Who ts this? Uv 18 THE MUIDEN-Wilosk HAND THE POOR YOUNG MAN HAS ASKED IN MARRIAGE. . What! Did he ask it then, after all? We. vivo. But did he not know better? OU, VES; ME KNEW MUCH BETTER. Why, then, did he do it? Becavsy. We COULD NOT HELP HIMSELF. How was that? NELIL—SHF. LOOKED AT HIM, And did he come to time? NERV PROMPTLY. Has she aswered the poor young man? Not ver, Is she thinking about him now? YES; SUF AS And will she give him her hand? PROBABLY Nov. Because she does not love him? NO BUY BECAUSE SHE FEARS HE WOULD Nor BE A Goon Provip Must she marry a Good Provider? VS: FOR SHE WAS RAISED A VET, AND CANNOT TAKE IN WASHING, , Is it a prudent maiden? MOST DISCREET. But why did she look at the young man if she does not want him? 1x ORDER TO TEACH HIM SELF-CONTROL. Was not that hind in her? AWFULLY KIND, G HIM UP, InGeNuE, clambering up the staircases in a tall building. to ker male companion.—“ These stairs are ever so much more wearisome than those in the Fost Office.” He.—“ Why.” She.—“ Because there they have an elevator, you know.” comicbooks.com