Life, 1891-08-20 · page 12 of 14
Life — August 20, 1891 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Not a Matter of Chance" and "The Picnic and Its Joys" This page contains two distinct pieces satirizing late-19th/early-20th-century social life. The top poem, a romantic vignette, plays on courtship conventions—a woman offers a man a choice between two roses where one means "yes" and one means "no," but then reveals the choice doesn't matter; whichever he picks means "yes." It's gentle satire of romantic pretense and female coquetry. The longer prose section critiques women's reform efforts (likely referencing Chautauqua meetings and women's resolutions about dress reform). The author argues that earnest "resolving" about fashion won't change anything—fashionable women will continue following trends regardless. Real change will come only through women's broader intellectual advancement, not organized fashion campaigns. The bottom cartoon shows a picnic scene at "Eden Grove" with families and children, captioning working-class domestic life. The dialogue suggests a boy would pay to attend Sunday school *with pants on*—implying the poverty or rough conditions of his family life make proper clothing a luxury.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
96 NOT A MATTER OF CHANCE. HICH rose will you choose?” she said ; “One means ‘yes,’ the other ‘no.”” One was white, the other red ; Onc meant bliss, the other woe. “cc The beating of my heart was hushed. Aloud | wondered " How the deuce Am to choose aright?” She blushed : “The one you take means ‘ ves.” you goose.” TomHall. GT Sall right for those sensible ladies to get together at Ch ae aqua and “whereas” and ** resolve s' content about what women shall wear. "t do any harm and may do some good, but not in the way they fancy, All the resolving in the world won't compel fashionable women to release them- selves and their sisters from folly in the matter of cos: tume, en wear fool Un- And so long as fas clothes, other wom styles less our friends at € women of Europe and of Am nothing Dt that it may start thoughts, It won't dei corset factory out of business. But the Ch, ladies need not despair. ‘The tremen- } dous ai advancement women have been mak- ing in other directions gives by th nund for the hope that e in the sex rather than rease of intellig j by any concerted action, women will before long free themselves entirely from the tyranny of fashion. -LIFE- s Hipe, Jistty f “DAD, DID YER SAY? Here's pap, ny jIxco 1” I'b GIVE FIFTY CENTS TO BE IN SUN- DAY SCHOOL WITIL MY PANTS ON 1” THE PICNIC AND IT’S JOYS. comicbooks.com