Life, 1900-12-01 · page 11 of 44
Life — December 1, 1900 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis This page features "The Sign of the Mistletoe," a romantic poem by Edwin L. Sabin accompanying an illustration of a couple beneath mistletoe at Christmas. The content is **not political satire** but rather sentimental holiday romance—common to Life magazine's mix of humor and literary content. The illustration shows a man and woman in an intimate moment under mistletoe, a traditional Christmas custom permitting kissing. The poem playfully questions what makes mistletoe special: not the plant itself but the social permission it grants for romantic contact. The final stanza references a moment where the speaker "stopped a moment (the crowd apart), / I took a kiss, but I gave my heart." This represents early-20th-century genteel romance literature rather than political commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
this half hour. hot.” The two rose abruptly. They stared blankly into each other’s eyes a moment. Then they laughed long and en- joyingly. ‘But it seemed so real,” she pleaded, ‘‘the horses—the yacht——” she looked down at her simple muslin dress— “even the turquoise satin—it is almost a struggle to realize that you are a maker of little books and I a singer of little Better hurry if you want your victuals The Sign of the [listletoe. X7 HERE Is tho Sign of the Mistletoe? Out in tho hall, where the light burns low. There—in the shado of the Christmas treo. Hero—with nobody near to see, What is tho Sign of the Mistletoe ? A sprig of groon and somo berries? No! ‘Two rod lips and a tilted noso; Two bright oyes and two cheeks of rose. How is tho fare at the Mistlotoo ? The best there is in the world, I trow. And he who tastes it ou Christmas Eve Would linger ovor and nover leave, What aro tho ratos at the Mistlotoo? For him who is given admittance—ob, °Tis only a matter (they say) of trade ‘Twixt lips of a man and tho lips of a maid. Alas, at tho Sign of the Mistletoe Sometimes reckonings foot not so, I stopped a moment (tho crowd apart), I took a kiss, but I gavo my heart. Edwin I, Sabin, songs, and that our combined incomes will hardly keep us in this funny, dingy little boarding-house for a two weeks’ vaca- tion. I am scarcely sure now shadow and which the substance. He put his arm about her waist as they neared the house and drew her into the shadow of the pines. “There is only one real thing in all the world,” he whis- pered, ‘and "—he kissed her swiftly—** this is it.” Theodosia Garrison. she laughed, ‘ which is the