Life, 1894-12-27 · page 28 of 53
Life — December 27, 1894 — page 28: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three Christmas-themed satirical pieces from *Life* magazine: **"His Merry Christmas"** (top): A working-class man, broke and unable to afford gifts for his wife, encounters various service workers (barber, waiter, bootblack, postman) who expect tips. His angry wife's final complaint—demanding he didn't forget the cook's present—satirizes how financial obligations cascade down through household staff. The joke critiques both economic precarity and the servant-dependent class system. **"The Emancipated Woman's Christmas"** (middle): A female lawyer working alone on Christmas Eve represents the "New Woman" of the era—professionally independent but isolated, having sent her staff home early on the holiday. The satire appears to mock both the loneliness of female independence and perhaps the disruption of traditional hierarchies. **"Christmas Morning at the Burglar's Home"** (right): Depicts a burglar surrounded by stolen goods and toys, playing Santa for children. This darkly comic image satirizes criminal life while inverting Christmas virtue narratives. Together, these pieces use Christmas as a lens to examine class anxieties, women's changing roles, and economic inequality 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.
“Now, THAT'S WOT [CALLS CONSIDERATE.” ** Ah, wife,” he muttered with a sigh, ** I'm miserable, I'm blue. Although it’s Christmas, [ have not A Christmas gift for you, My office boy encountered me, Likewise the postman came. The district messenger was there, Indeed I'm not to blame. I met my barber on the street, My waiter was hard by. The bootblack hungered in my wake ; Alas! no cash have I." Then quickly rose his angry wife And hurried to his side. “What have you done? You did not keep Your promise,” loud she cried. I care not for myself." She gave This hapless man a look. But where's "—she grabbed him by the hair Phat present for the cook ?” Tom Masson. THE EMANCIPATED WOMAN'S CHRISTMAS. Emancipated Woman sat in her law office and thought, n coming and going all day, and while eng in the exacting duties of her profession she had found no time to think. Consequently she had postponed her thoughts until a more convenient season, which had just arrived. It was growing dusk. At half-past four in the afternoon of Christ- mas Eve, in the latitude of New York, daylight is almost gone. The Emancipated Woman had not lighted her yas, and there was no ¢ else to do it. She had permitted all her assistants to leave early, They had asked to go at four, because it was Christmas Ev she had graciously allowed the privil “1 pips"? LEAVE “EM MUCH HIS MERRY CHRISTMAS. HURRIED man, a worried man, A man most sad to see. A weary man, a dreary man, A man dead broke was he Into a chair he sank, and then Ilis teeth he grimly grou While in his vest his pock Gave forth a hollow sound. CHRISTMAS MORNING AT THE BURGLAR'S HOME, comicbooks.com