Life — July 19, 1900 — page 15: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a satirical cartoon about Sabbath observance and social hypocrisy. A woman reports to a man (appearing to be her husband or authority figure) that someone named "Ned Bunkerly" lacks respect for Sunday, the Christian Sabbath day traditionally reserved for rest and worship. The "offense": Bunkerly arrived half an hour late to the golf links (golf course) that morning. **The satire's point**: The joke mocks the contradiction in early 20th-century upper-class society—people who publicly claimed to observe the Sabbath religiously were actually spending Sunday morning golfing rather than attending church. Arriving late to golf is presented as violating Sabbath propriety, exposing how the wealthy prioritized leisure over genuine religious observance. The cartoon criticizes this performative morality.