Life, 1891-01-22 · page 11 of 18
Life — January 22, 1891 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Girls and Matrimony" This page satirizes attitudes about girls choosing marriage partners. The top section presents a letter from Mrs. E. Lynn Linton arguing that girls lack judgment in selecting husbands and should rely on parental guidance rather than romantic love. The author counters that even prudent mothers sometimes choose poorly for their daughters. The cartoon "After the Campaign" depicts two fashionably dressed women in conversation, with the caption joking that one looks better since becoming engaged—because she's finally "rested" from the exhausting social effort of courtship. The three small comic panels on the right show a woman in domestic situations, illustrating the humorous "realities" of married life versus romantic expectations. The satire mocks both courtship rituals and marriage itself.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIFE HE GIRLS AND MATRIMONY. “HE LAUGHS BEST WHO LAUGHS In the January number of the Forum, Mrs. E. Lynn Linton, says: This much, however, may be said in favor of the system common to the Catholic and Latin races: a wise parent can choose better for a girl than she herself can. Love has a glamor which trans- forms to noble likeness the most sordid and least lovely material. Don Juan, Bel Ami, Paul Astier—neither one of them, nor any one like them, would a prudent mother accept for her daughter; but the daughter herself would go down before them like ripe corn before the sickle. These made marriages are based on the not entirely futile belief in the power of habit and in the close tie of the children, by which accord is secured and the home is created. Of course, all the conditions must hang together. Free- dom to girls means power of choice, and experience shows that a woman's preconjugal illusions do not always tend to make a successful marriage. The lost lover is sure to be the standard of comparison disadvantageous to the hus- band, and girls who have! loved’ On‘thalv one account are naturally not willing to be arranged for by the mother. The author evidently inclines to the belief that girls are not fit to choose for themselves in matters matrimonial, and as the author is a woman the opinion may be accepted as at least unbiased. Almost every parent of a grown-up daughter knows what an unreasoning lunatic that daughter can become when the “right man” heaves in sight; and it is pure luck whether he is a decent citizen or the most offensive idiot in the state. AFTER THE CAMPAIGN. Bud 1; YoU LOOK BETTER SINCE YOU HAVE BECOME ENGAGED ; HOW DO YOU FEEL? Bud 2 (witha sigh): Restep.