Life — April 15, 1897 — page 14: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes social hypocrisy among the upper classes. The image shows elegantly dressed women in a drawing room while men conduct business in an adjacent room visible through open doors. The caption reads: "IT DOES NOT FOLLOW, BECAUSE A SMOKER SUDDENLY GIVES..." The satire appears to critique the Victorian-era social convention separating men and women after formal gatherings. While gentlemen retire to smoke cigars and conduct private affairs, the ladies remain in polite society. The incomplete caption suggests the joke concerns assumptions about behavior or character based on a single action—likely mocking how people judge propriety selectively based on gender or social position. The cartoon ridicules the rigid gender segregation and the arbitrary moral standards applied differently to men versus women in high society.