Life, 1902-12-25 · page 55 of 77
Life — December 25, 1902 — page 55: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the commercialization of Christmas through two distinct critiques: **Upper cartoons**: Four panels mock wealthy shoppers' extravagant holiday gift-buying. "Shopper No. 2" casually orders multiple dozen vases; "Shopper No. 3" demands five hundred pieces of plate; "Shopper No. 4" requests tons of silverware and diamonds. The escalating absurdity ridicules conspicuous consumption among the wealthy during the holiday season. **Text essay** (by Agnes Repplier): A humorous commentary on Christmas imagery in art, lamenting how illustrators must repeatedly depict mistletoe scenes—officers kissing young women, children arranging romantic moments—year after year. The author contrasts modern commercial exhaustion with ancestors' simpler holiday joy. Together, the page critiques both wealthy excess in gift-giving and the repetitive sentimentality of Christmas imagery, suggesting the holiday has become drained of genuine meaning through commercialization and artistic cliché.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Shopper No. 2: GOT ANY MORE OP THYSE VASES? SEND ME UP Two DOZEN OP ‘EM RIGHT AWAY. ALL RIGHT; Shopper No.3: ARK THOSE FIVE HUNDRED PIECES OF PLATE Mann! hild in his arms, and kissing her be- neath the mistletoe. This is very nice, and just what the public craves, But the next year he must make a fresh combination. Two fair-haired children creep down a broad stairway in their trailing nightgowns, while in the hall below the handsome officer kisses a pretty young girl beneath the mistletoe. Very nice again. Always a popular grouping. A third combination shows us the handsome officer lifting the fair-haired child so that she can hold a sprig of mistletoe over the young girl's unconscious head, the nature of the jest being made ap- parent by the beaming faces of the spectators. Next Christmas three fair- haired children roguishly drag a grand- D FOR ME YET? father or great-grandunclo beneath the mistletoe, that he may be ardently embraced by a bevy of pretty young girls. Next—a bashful schoolboy, in correct Eton costume, proffers a kiss to the original fair-haired little girl, who, doll-in-arms, resigns herself sweetly to the sitna- tion. Next—but pity the artist, as well as ourselves. How must he regard mistletoe, and the Christmas that comes but once a year? Our an- cestors loved the day. But then the blessed bareness of their lot ! Agnes Repplier. Shopper No. kt SEND ME UP TWO TONS OF ae. SORTED SILVERWARE AND A PECK OF DIAMO! CUNISTMAS PRESENTS. NDS FOR comicbooks.com