Life, 1903-09-03 · page 13 of 32
Life — September 3, 1903 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes early 20th-century social aspirations and excess. "The Social Register" heading mocks high society's pretensions—the illustration shows an opulent mansion where the wealthy briefly retreat. "Aesop Up to Date" modernizes the classic fable about counting chickens before they hatch. A milkmaid daydreams of escalating luxury (eggs→chickens→Monte Carlo coat and ermine stole) to win back a rejected suitor named Robin. She's literally distracted by vanity, nearly dropping her milk. The moral is updated: even a "Physical Culture Club" member (fashionable fitness movement) can't escape consequences of foolish ambition. "Cannibalism" references Edward Everett Hale (American author/clergyman famous for moral tales), darkly joking that shipwrecked sailors eating each other is less "dreadful" than becoming one of his preachy fictional characters. The bottom cartoon about an elephant mocks pretentious social etiquette—a woman refuses familiarity from an elephant as if enforcing upper-class distance rules. Overall: satire of wealth obsession, romantic folly, and Victorian propriety.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
*LIFE: 221 oem THE SOCIAL REGISTER. The New York Daily: THe BULLIFAT INKUMS HAVE GONE To THEE LLENOX COTTAGE FOR A PEW DAYS. “Esop Up to Date. Tur Mitkmatp axp Her Patt or Minx. Sood Girl for a long Time, and ail of New A MILKMAID having bee +L Careful in her Work, her mistress gave her a Milk all for herself. : With the Pail on her Head she tripped Gayly away to the Mar- ket, saying to Herself: : “How Happy Lam! For this Milk I shall get a Shilling; and with that Shilling I shall buy Twenty of the Eggs Laid by our Neighbor's fine Fowls. ‘These Eggs I shall put under Mistress’s old Hen, and even if only Half of the Chicks grow up and Thrive before next Fair time comes Round, I shall be able to Sell them for a Good Gu ‘Then I shall Buy me a Monte Carlo Coat and an Ermine Stole, and I will Look so Bewitching that Robin will Come Up and Offer to be Friends again. But I won't Make up Too Easily ; when he Brings me Violets, I shall just Toss My Head So—and—" Here the Milkmaid gave her Head the Toss she was thinking about, and the Pail of Milk was Dislodged from its Resting-Place on her Head. But, being a Member of a Ladies’ Physical Culture Club, she Deft ught the Pail and Replaced It. All Turned Out as she had planned, and when Robin married her he gave her an Electric Automobile. Monat: Don't Discount Your Chickens Before they are Hatched. Carolyn Wells. Cannibalism, A 7 times the shipwrecked sailor eats his mate, +X And eating ends some missionaries’ tale ; But think how truly dreadful were his fate, If Edward Everett Hale! & Anwse onan’ “SEE MERE, SIR. I ALLOW NO ELEPHANT To PUT HIS TRUNK AKOUND ME ON SHONT ACQUAINTANCE.” comicbooks.com