Life, 1903-09-10 · page 3 of 20
Life — September 10, 1903 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Panel**: Two women lying down with the caption "But They Always Break" satirizes romantic relationships, suggesting men are unreliable partners. **"Mosquitoes" Section**: Celebrates the elimination of mosquitoes in what appears to be New York City—a genuine public health victory. The text notes thanksgiving celebrations, baseball games, and church attendance. However, it satirizes the era's optimistic belief that mortality would become "obsolete," mocking both public health advocates and moral reformers (the Society for the Suppression of Vice) who worked simultaneously. The joke: people celebrated mosquito elimination while ignoring other serious threats, and reformers' efforts proved similarly ineffective. **Bottom Cartoon**: Depicts a horse-trading scene with dialogue about selling a horse and marrying off a daughter—equating women to livestock in a satirical critique of marriage as transactional.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
243, LIFE. Mosquitoes. Mi Oseurrors being at last exterminated, public joy was unbounded. A day of thanksgiving was ap- pointed, when the people assembled in their churches, and two games of baseball were played. But presently it began to be noticed that open-work waists were becoming more so, Further, when press and pulpit sounded the note of warning, it was to no avail, Now the alarm spread to all classes, “Morality will become obsolete,” exclaimed the pessi- mists; the Society for the Suppression of Vice worked nights and Sundays, while nobody went to Coney Island warm days except police and clergymen in search of material for sermons. In the distracted state of the common mind impious thoughts found expression. It was even hinted that the Lord, who had made mosquitoes, knew better than the sanitary experts who had pnt oil on all the frog ponds. OLD MAMMERSON SAYS TITS HORSE WE WANTS TO SELL ME 18 SOUND, GENTLE AND KIND, AND WON'T KICK.” “1D BE SUSPicioUs OF HIM IF f WERE YoU, OLD MAN.” “wut” “ WELL, YOU KNOW I MARRIED Is DAUONTER.” comicbooks.com