Life, 1896-10-29 · page 12 of 18
Life — October 29, 1896 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page 326 Explanation This page contains three distinct pieces of satire: **Top cartoon ("Not His Preference"):** A man tells his doctor he prefers having children "on the installment plan" rather than triplets—joking that spreading out children financially is preferable to having multiple births at once. **Middle section ("Advice"):** A poem by L.L.H. satirizes the struggling artist's life. A poet's muse sends him on errands (hunting for lost cooking equipment) while he tries to write, his tripod becomes a soup pot, and his finished poem gets rejected by every editor. The moral: aspiring writers shouldn't actually *live* the bohemian lifestyle they romanticize—poverty and chaos don't help creativity. **Bottom section:** Commentary on women's suffrage, arguing that women *opposed* to voting wouldn't help the movement gain strength. The author dismissively contrasts famous suffragists like Susan B. Anthony and Helen M. Gougar with women who achieve goals through "influence" rather than activism—implying suffragists lack the social power of conventionally attractive women.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
NOT HIS PREFERENCE. ELL, Mr. Benedict, physician, ‘‘you pected triplets to begin with.” ‘*No, I didn’t," replied the discon- solate man. ‘I prefer my family on the installment plan.” ADVICE. I THE poet, mussed my hair, y Then turned me tomy muse in gingham And said: ‘My love, prythce repair And hunt my fillets up and bring ‘em.”” The dear girl thought, and thought, and thought; And high and low she vainly sought ’em Where they should be, where they should not; Then thought at last: ‘‘The rag-man bought ‘em.” My tripod? Gone, too; for therein The soup was cooking for our dinner. Set-backs enough, I wot, to win From rhyme the maddest rhyming sinner. But not for me the chair of ease, And not for me the lotus diet; I took my rhymster on my knees While Thalia kept the baby quiet. . ° * The rhyme was finished, but, alack! Less something—even I detected ; And, like the cat, it wandered back From every editor, rejected. And so conviction comes to me, And, if ‘‘available,” Ill give it:— The man who'd write his poetry Would better not attempt to live it. LL. H. AM of us can think up almost un- bearable personal troubles if we devote our attention to it. F the women who do not want to vote were to set about obtaining the bal- lot, there is little doubt as to the result. The women who now want the right of franchise are not of the sort who have much influence with men, and their open advocacy does not always add strength to the cause. The women for whom men fight and commit suicide, or embezzle- ment, are never stump speakers. They usually get what they want, however, which is more than can be said of Susan B. Anthony, Helen M. Gougar, and vari- ous other shining lights in the Equal Suffrage camp. comicbooks.com