Life, 1903-03-19 · page 3 of 22
Life — March 19, 1903 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three unrelated pieces of satirical content: 1. **"Total Strangers"** (top): A sketch showing a man at a desk with papers and money, flanked by cherub figures, likely satirizing greed or financial dealings. 2. **"A Feather Fancy"** (left): A poem by Clinton Scollard accompanying a portrait sketch of a woman wearing an elaborate feathered hat. The verse critiques women's fashion—specifically the ostentatious ostrich plume headdresses fashionable in this era—questioning their appeal and mocking the "yes" they inspire from suitors. 3. **"Saved"** (right): A brief comedic dialogue and story about a woman threatening her reluctant lover with exposure unless he marries her. She ultimately manipulates him through a dramatic gesture, "saving" virtue through coercion rather than genuine reform. The page reflects early 20th-century attitudes toward fashion excess, courtship, and gender dynamics.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
iy Hj TOTAL STRANGRKS. A Feather Fancy. BENEATH dusk coils of os Her hair has all the glint and gloom ) Of some dim Oriental room Half firelight lighted ; Her brows display a Cupid-curve ; Her nose is flawless without swerve ; Her chin shows winsomeness and verve And mirth united. h plume Her wide and wondrous eyes,—ah, me, What wells they are of witchery ! I can but marvel what the With gaze unbro Is it some lover, heart-preferre: For whom her lips A-tremble with Love's perfect word, A “yes,” low spoken ? Dear dream of maiden loveliness, Than just to pose as conqueror, And your intended ! Clinton Scollard, | -[ USB: AND: Where do you want to go on a vacation ? Wire: Oh, anywhere that's expen- sive and restless, 7 OU are in my power.”” Bertram Callow, polished vil- lain that he was, as he spoke flourished in his hand a paper. “Your lover,’ he sneered, “can do nothing. He is but a humble dry goods clerk on thirteen dollars a week, while I hold in my hand the mortgage on your father’s coal-bin, You must marry me before midnight or I will foreclose.” Sibyl clutched her hands nervously in her peroxide hair. She had only a moment to spare, as the Split Sisters were waiting to come and do their famons act. Assuming an air of care- less abandon, she said gaily : certainly, dear. It will be all r Approaching the sideboard, by adex- trous movement of her hand she threw several grains of predigested break- fast food into a glass and filled it with Scotch, ‘Drink my health,’’ she said, with a bright smile. In sixty seconds more, as the villain writhed on the floor, her lover stole in. “Quick, Jack, the paper!” she cried. Thus virtne triumphed. comicbooks.com