Life, 1901-06-20 · page 3 of 20
Life — June 20, 1901 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 521 This page contains satirical content about religious hypocrisy. The poem "At Matins" (top left) depicts "Pretty Miss Piety" at church—outwardly pious with closed eyes and proper dress, yet inwardly distracted and vain, concerned with powder and appearance. The verse mocks her superficial devotion. The illustration below shows a woman as a barrel labeled "MADE IN GERMANY," holding a goblet—likely satirizing materialism or commercialism masquerading as virtue. The caption "Faint purse ne'er won fair lady" suggests criticism of financial or mercenary motivations. The photograph and accompanying caption about "Napleigh" reference someone's suspicious religious conversion coinciding with monetary gain—implying insincere faith motivated by self-interest rather than genuine belief.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
At Matins. ‘PRETTY Miss Piety + Sat in her pew, Clothed in sobriety Sable the hue. Eyelids half sleeping, Head held askance, Eyes barely peeping— Ripe for a glance. What's the priest saying? How can she tell? Is she not praying Fervently well? Do her thoughts wander? Libel her not; See! she doth ponder Her polygot. Ended the service— (Hers to St. Anne; Ardent her verve is), “Amen! and—a man,” F AINT purse ne'er won fair lady. She; wWny, THAT's SOAPLEION OVER THERE (N THE BOX. I THOUGHT HE HAD CHANGED SINCE UF JOINED THE CHURCH, “HE MAS, THE THINGS HE USED TO DO OPENLY HE NOW NOES ON THE SLY.” © borrow money is human ; to repay, HER Eare three nasks for thought: Silence, MADE IN! GERMANY. divine. speech, frivolity. comicbooks.com