Life, 1897-04-08 · page 15 of 26
Life — April 8, 1897 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical piece mocks a proposal by writer John Walker (published in *Cosmopolitan*) suggesting colleges should teach men how to select wives, given high divorce rates. Life sarcastically expands the idea: universities should offer mandatory matrimony courses featuring divorce lawyers lecturing on alimony costs, ex-husbands displaying their "scars and bruises," and examples from divorce columns. The joke culminates in awarding a "B.M.—Bachelor of Matrimony" degree. The accompanying illustration depicts a woman riding triumphantly in a chariot pulled by various animals and cherubs—a classical allegory of spring or victory, which contrasts humorously with the text's portrayal of matrimony as a hazardous battlefield requiring scientific study. The piece reflects early-20th-century anxieties about rising divorce rates and satirizes both masculine naïveté about marriage and the growing role of "scientific" solutions to social problems.
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WALKER, writ- ing in the cur- rent Cosmopoli- fan on the de- fects of college education, notes one serious omission from the course of train- ing which is to fit young z men for happiness oS and success. Hethinksthey should receive some college instruction in the important matter of selecting a wife, You are quite right, Mr. Walker. The statistics of the divorce courts show that it is high time for Dame Science toturn her attention to match-making. The callow graduate of Yale or Harvard is absolutely ignorant of the awful possi- SPRING, bilities of misfit matrimony. He should be compelled to attend at least three courses of lectures illustrated with awful examples from the divorce col- umns of the New York World and Journal, Ex-husbands might recite their experiences before the students in the matrimony courses, and show their scars and bruises. Prominent divorce lawyers might deliver lectures on the subject of alimony and extra costs. Mr. Walker has pointed out the evil, Lire has made some practical sug- gestions, and it now remains for the uni- versities to see to it that no young man graduates without a scientific knowl- edge of how to select the right woman for a wife. On students who pursue the subject successfully after graduation they might confer the advanced degree of B. M.— Bachelor of Matrimony. I" the is refreshing to note that American Association of Obstetri- cians and Gynecologists is ‘‘opposed to needless cruelty and experiments upon animals in the public schools.” From this it may be inferred that vivisection does entail needless cruelty, and that nothing can be learnt from experiments upon animals at public schools — facts about which there has never been any doubt in our mind. We might be more thankful for this concession on the part of our friends the vivisectors, if it were not accom- panied by the Association's protest against the restriction of animal ex- perimentation, which it qualifies as ‘*humane work. ENATOR MULLIN of Water- town wants to pass a bill mak- ing it a misdemeanor to wear tights in public. There's no harm in tights; it is legs that make the trouble. Go to the root of the matter, Senator, and draft a bill prohibiting folks from wearing legs in public.