Life, 1896-12-10 · page 8 of 20
Life — December 10, 1896 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis The top cartoon shows a domestic scene with the caption "One swallow doesn't make a summer. 'No, but if curious enough it will bring a fall.'" This appears to be a visual pun about a bird (swallow) potentially causing marital trouble—likely satirizing infidelity or curiosity leading to relationship damage. The main article, "The Ethical Bathtub," satirizes reformers and moralists obsessed with saving America. It mocks a character named Bok (likely Edward Bok, editor of Ladies' Home Journal) who campaigns for moral causes—here, specifically the bathtub as a symbol of civilization and morality. The sidebar cartoons show various crusaders promoting their "ethical" causes. The satire targets earnest progressive reformers of the early 20th century as self-righteous and absurdly focused on trivial concerns disguised as moral crusades.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“NO, BUT IF COPIOUS ENOUGH IT WILL BRING A FALL.” THE ETHICAL BATHTUB. T is the glory of America that in every great crisis a great ; man has arisen to save the land, ’ and, sometimes, several of him. When Literature was adrift and rushing headlong to chaos, Bok came; and though storms raged, r he stood, serene and fearless, with his hand on the tiller and his eye on the Bok’s office, steering the trembling bark of Letters into Philadelphia. Having placed Lit- erature in that quict haven, this unfalter- ing champion of right threw his gleaming eye over the landscape, and focussed it on Morals. He saw that Morals were getting shabby and shopworn, and were losing vogue; somebody must lariat them and restore them to their proper sphere. Morals properly presented were respecta- ble, and he, Bok, the apostle of the respectable, must be the man to rescue them from public indifference. Fate pointed to him; he was the man of the hour. He reckoned the cost and was prepared to face the consequences. Noble fellow ! The rage of the Boston Public Library Art Committee, the contempt of Zola, the jealousy of Parkhurst, the envy of Com- stock, the alarm of the Mew York World—all these he must face; yet, he tore off his celluloid collar, locked his editorial boudoir, denied himself to fair pilgrims seeking photos, and turned doggedly to his herculean task. The moral grandeur of that moment was sublime; a new epoch was about to be hatched out in Philadelphia. Whistling down the tube to the foreman of the composing room, he asked with set teeth: ‘What was the last moral crusade stuff we had in the monthly, Angelica?" ‘* Feather Boas and Foreign Missions," came weirdly up the tube in a strangely sweet mezzo-soprano. He left the speaking tube and staggered to his chair, mur- muring ina husky voice: ‘It must be done. America must be saved. The blow must be struck right here, and the war be carried into the penetralia of the household. I will stand loyally by my soap advertisers;my = first pronunciamento will be ‘The Morals of the Bathtub." ” His fair young face was pale, and great beads of sweat stood upon his expansive, Manayunk brow, as he wrote these death- less sentences: ‘* Morality depends on the size and tex- ture of the bath- tub. In pro- portion as we use the bathtub and recognized brands of soap, so do we attain to moral heights and advanced civilization. Turkey and Russia owe more to their national par- “GIMME A QUART.” comicbooks.com