Life, 1900-01-11 · page 3 of 20
Life — January 11, 1900 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 23 **Top Illustration:** A domestic scene showing a woman in bed while a man stands nearby with a lamp, surrounded by domestic chaos—scattered items on the floor, a child, and general disorder. The caption references breaking mirrors and seven years of bad luck, satirizing superstition and marital discord. **"The Clever Little Wife":** A poem by Paul West mocks the ideal of a dutiful wife who tolerates her husband's poor financial decisions and infidelity (oyster season, gambling debts), celebrating her economic sacrifice as virtuous. **Bottom Dialogue:** A joke about the difference between bulls and bears in financial markets—referencing stock trading rather than actual animals. The humor plays on double meaning. All content satirizes marriage dynamics, superstition, and financial folly common to early 20th-century American life.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“NOW, MARIA, YOU'VE BROKEN BOTH THOSE MIRROKS AND W y'LL HAVE AT LEAST SEVEN YEARS ILL LUCK." The Clever Little Wife. RAY: Metempsychosis? No, sir, I think it’s a horrid YOUNG wife bought an oyster plant and sot it out to grow. belief. Fancy my becoming a donkey in my next bees Quoth she, “Twill please my husband, who does love incarnation! q oysters so! Fu 1: Monotonous, eh? | yp And when tho oyster season comes I'll go'out every day \ — And pick a bushel basketful, with not a cent to pay. iN Ob, ho shall sup on Saddlerocks, for which bio has a crazo, eahhe Or Millponds, Bluepoints, Shrewsburys, or even Rockaways. hing And ho will bo 0 grateful and full of joy, to seo i e par How very economical his little wife can be!” Paul West, } ssios T° is related of President Kruger that when Jews first began | — to flock to Pretoria he was unfavorably disposed towards - ] ery of them and used them severely, but after a time relented some- 4 ry havi what, and finally gave them leave to build a synagogue. They were grateful, and when the synagogue was built they asked ’ him to come and open it, The story is—and it assumes to be i @ true story—that the old man accepted the invitatlon, and, i ler wit standing on the platform, duly said: ‘In the name of the J oods Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, I declare this i for yes synagogue opened, Now, my friends, I hope you will lose % ] he a no time in becoming converted.” y AS Q\ i oe HE (reading it Franchi column): What's the difference \ ( al i between a bull and a bear? BEAN yyy i way He: Down in the Street, my dear, it is about a million alts pai Wd ~ dollars a minute, NOT THE SNAP TUAT HE EXPECTED, ert! J comicbooks.com