Life, 1895-05-30 · page 15 of 22
Life — May 30, 1895 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three separate humorous pieces: **Top Cartoon**: A woman juggler tosses hats at suffragists holding signs reading "HELL WITH MEN," "ARE WOMEN," "GOOD ENOUGH," "VOTERS FOR US." This mocks early women's suffrage activism, portraying female voters as chaotic and disorganized—a common anti-suffrage satire tactic of the era. **"For Which?" Poem**: Contrasts natural, rural life with urban industrial drudgery, questioning which existence humans were "made" for. This reflects early 20th-century nostalgia for preindustrial life amid rapid urbanization. **Two Comic Anecdotes**: - "Pete's Mistake" jokes about a ranch cook confusing tooth powder with baking powder - "She Had Studied French" ridicules a woman's pretentious misuse of the French phrase "bon vivant" (good liver) as if it were a food item The lower sketches mock social pretension and linguistic ignorance, while the suffrage cartoon expresses political opposition to women's voting rights.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
WAS DISAPPOINTING, FOR WHICH? HE woods where the squirrels chatter ; Or the office dim and musty, The woods where the red deer run ; On a noisy, narrow street, The woods where the rabbits scatter, Where the foul air is dusty. At sound of the hunter’s gun ; And the buildings almost meet. Where the cool fresh wind comes stealing, To slave ; to rise or blunder : And the crisp and brown leaves lie, To stick at a sordid trade ;— And the gaunt trees stand revealing. Ah, which is the life, 1 wonder, A glimpse of God’s blue sky. For which a man was made? PETE’S MISTAKE, H® was the owner's nephew, and when he came to the ranch “to learn some- thing about raising cows, you know,” he was unanimously nicknamed “The Kid.” Shortly after his arrival he came over to the kitchen one morning while the boys were at breakfast and sought Pete, the cook, in dismay. “Tsay, Pete, have you seen anything of my camphorated chalk ?” “ Your—how much ?” “My camphorated—my tooth powder.” “ What might it look like, Kid?" “It's a white powder in a little round tin, and —" “Well, I'll be derned! Say, were that teeth powder? Why I asks yer pardon, Kid, but I thoug’t ‘twas bakin’ powder and used it in ther biscuits !" TRannaait oe SHE HAD STUDIED FRENCH. “HAVE YoU ANY BON-VIVANT THIS MORNING ?"" “ BONED WHAT, MUM?” “Bon-Vivant, Wy THAT'S FRENCH FOR ‘GOOD LIVER !'"