Life, 1901-01-03 · page 9 of 20
Life — January 3, 1901 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "A Cruel American Parent" - Life Magazine Satire This page satirizes American parental stinginess. The sketch shows a mother telling her daughters their father will only allow them $100 annually for clothing—despite his wealth and "making and scraping" to get out of debt. The daughters' chorus response ("Well, we'll get even with him yet!") suggests they'll find ways around his restrictions. The accompanying story "His Remedy" features dialogue between Mrs. Eversoe and Mr. Clubber about the hardships of city life. Clubber suggests Saratoga (a wealthy resort destination) as an escape—implying leisure and spending as solutions to stress. Together, these pieces mock wealthy American fathers who accumulate money while denying their families reasonable luxuries, highlighting class tensions and family financial conflict in the Gilded Age.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“MAMMA, CAN A PELLOW MAVE ICE CREAM EVERY DAY IN UEAVENT" “MY DEAR, YOU WOULDN'T WANT IT THERE." “ALWAYS KNEW HEAVEN WASN'T THE PLACE IT 18 CRACKED UP To HE.” graded ; the imperial treasury paid my hotel bill in Berlin ; I was given a free pass on the imperial railroads; all State secrets were to be mine two weeks ahead of my rivals, and all my correspondence was to go uncensored and at half-rates. I proceeded at once to the Hague and said to the Queen Dowager, ‘‘ The Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin is Willie’s boy; he is big, ornamental, brainless, looks well on a horse, and stands in with the Kaiser. You had better chase the mob hanging round the front door.” Her Majesty ordered the police to carry the other suitors to the dock and deport them, and turning to me, with tears in her eyes, said,‘t Mr. Squeelman, you have saved Holland once more. Wear this Cross of the Yellow Vulture in memory of your services, while I go down and tell Wilhel- mina.” This in brief is the secret history of an extraordinary event, The ordinary European correspondents will be dead-sore when they read this, but they must admit that Squeelman, the Scooper, always has a front seat. Rudyard Davie Squeelman. His Remedy. M RS. EVERSOE: Do you know, Mr. Clubber, some- times when I look out on these thronged streets my heart just bleeds at the Sisyphean sorrows of the toiling myriads ! Mr. Ciusper: I feel like that, too, sometimes ; and—— “Ah! but you are a man; you can do something.” “IT quite understand you. Yes, I go off to Saratoga, or somewhere, and get it out of the system.”” A Cruel American Parent. ‘HE MOTHER: My dears, your father is obdurate. He says that after raking and scraping, as he vulgarly expresses it, and getting into debt, and making other sacrifices, he can only allow you five hundred dollars apiece for your Clothes. THe GiRts (in chorus, weeping) : Well, we'll get even with him yet ! ew Fly; ow, come oN, PELLERS | THIS CAKE FROSTING 18 JUST GREAT.