Life, 1893-08-24 · page 7 of 16
Life — August 24, 1893 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of "His Idea" - Life Magazine Page 119 This page contains a satirical letter (signed "Droch") critiquing American men versus men in a correspondent's story. The accompanying cartoon series illustrates the letter's main point: American men are too busy and work-focused to be idle or engage in leisure. The five sequential sketches show a man attempting various forms of relaxation—sitting in chairs, playing with a dog, lounging—but appearing uncomfortable or restless in each scenario. The final image depicts him at what appears to be a desk or table with a dog, suggesting work intrudes even on leisure time. The satire targets American masculine culture's emphasis on constant productivity and the "self-made man" ideal, contrasting it with a more leisurely European lifestyle. The cartoon humorously suggests American men lack the ability to simply relax without guilt or distraction.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
* LIFE: can play the game for so many other stakes. There is social HIS IDEA. position for one; reputation as an intellectual woman for another, (dear me, how easily we can make the men believ: that we are learned); then there are the Church and organ- ized charity which give us abundant outlets for our executive energies. For you must realize that we are executive above all things. That is why we are ceasing to be morbid. And, my dear lady, I fear you are very morbid. You yourself have said that thought which does not lead to action makes one morbid, and that has been your trouble. If you had simply spent two or three months organrzing your crusade, you would have forgotten all your trouble. It would not matter whether you accomplished anything or not; the cure is in the very act of organization. Why, we -have doctors who will tell you on the sly, that they have encouraged the or- ganizing mania among women as a cure for nervous pros- tration. I know of one particularly bad case where the physician hinted to the patient that there was a crying need for a society to provide East Side waifs with tops in season. It was harmless, and it cured her. (That is the beauty of our men by the way, they let us do as we please, and yet manage us."’) * * * HE American girl, with her usual audacity, has filled most of my letter. But I want to say a word for the American man in contrast to the men in your story. Your men don’t seem to have enough to do—that is why, perhaps, they spend so much time deceiving women. (I am referring to your men as you see them, and not as I believe they are.) Now the American man is a busy creature. If he does not have to work for a living, he is apt to create some engrossing work for his mere good pleasure. After all that has been said about it, we really have very few idle rich men here; there are a great many more idle “ little brothers of. the rich " —a class of parasites who would be idle in any condition of life. When our men are busy, they are in it heart and soul for success, and that leaves little time for what is vicious. The spare time the American man has is occupied by some bright girl, who probably “ knows the world” as well as he does and often “ gives him points, You must not think them * bold and unwomanly,” as your friend says. They simply look at things with clear eyes, and with a heart filled with that good-will for men and women that“ thinketh no evil "—but, nevertheless, sees it if it exists. That, I take it, is all that you would ask, or seek by your crusade. Just cross the ocean and tind it! Kindly express my thanks to Déavolo and Angelica, the heavenly twins, for the rich amusement their amazing per- sonal cleverness has afforded us. Yours faithfully, Droch. NEW BOOKS. (FFM THE FIVE RIVERS, By Mrs. F. A. Steel. New York: D. Appleton and Company, A Truthful Woman in Southern California, By Kate Sanborn. New York: D. Appleton and Company. The Tutor's Secret. By Victor Cherbuliez, New York: D. Appleton and Company. comicbooks.com