Life, 1899-12-14 · page 19 of 20
Life — December 14, 1899 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This cartoon satirizes the fashion constraints of early 1900s women's clothing. A man proposes to his girlfriend "Peggy" while they're near water, but she cannot help him because her restrictive "eel skirt" (a fitted, tubular skirt style) prevents her from bending or moving freely. She cries for help as he faces drowning, unable to assist due to her garment's design. The joke mocks both the impracticality of women's fashionable dress—which literally endangered wearers—and the gender dynamics where a woman's appearance took priority over her ability to help in emergencies. It's social commentary on how fashion victimized women by severely limiting their mobility and agency, presented here as absurdly humorous tragedy. The page is primarily advertisements for period products (cigarettes, typewriters, upholstery services).
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ACCIDENT WHILE POPPING THE QUESTION. Harry: Your hand at once, Peggy, or I'll be drowned | Peogu: I dare not; cannot stoop with my eel skirt ; oh, mercy! help!! help!!! help!!!! boltday Rovelties, Vases, and 3Jare of Ricb Cut Class, Also incrpensive but Artistic Are bviced in Silver suitable tor Fmas Upholstery. French Tapestry, Brocades, and Velours for Curtains, Draperies and Furniture Coverings. Lace Curtains. Fine Krussels Lace, Arabian, Cluny, Marte Antoinette, and Irish Potnt Lace Curtains, Bed Sets and Panels, Preoadooay Ko 196 ot. NEW YORK. Always the best Now better Delicious mildness Superlative quality Nestor Cigarettes Nema im gaa a a a cee |e [Keele Alcohol, Opium, | Drug Using. UFFALO, | NSY. ure: EXINGTON, MA6S. ; PROVIDENCE, = RL fee panicelars “ WEST HAVEN, CONN, © oO eee | R emington Typewriters Reliable Service WYCKOFF, SEAMANS @& BENEDICT, 327 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. LIFE BINDER, CHEAP, STRONG AND DURABLE. WII Hold 26 Numbers. Matled to any part of the United States for 81.00, Address Office of ‘‘LIFE,’’ to West Thirty-first Street, New York,