Life, 1903-10-01 · page 23 of 36
Life — October 1, 1903 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains multiple short satirical pieces typical of early 20th-century American humor: **"The Voice of Experience"**: A lecturer romanticizes women as "the gentler sex." A stranger challenges him, revealing he's a Utah gentleman with **six wives**—a reference to polygamy practiced by the LDS church. The joke mocks both the lecturer's sentimentality and polygamists by implying six wives disprove the "gentler" characterization. **"Qualified Acquiescence"**: Office humor about punctuality. The bookkeeper's careful distinction—Bunting is "here early" but perhaps not reliably diligent—pokes fun at workplace pretense and careful language. **"Landmarks," "First Fashionable Baby," and "The Wrong Size"**: Brief joke comics about romantic misunderstandings, motherhood, and a giraffe's medical mishap, representing typical early-20th-century domestic and animal humor without specific political references. The page reflects period attitudes toward gender, marriage, and workplace dynamics.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
-LIFE: 323 The Voice of Experience. " ‘PARDON me,” said the stranger to the lectarer of the evening, ‘but would you mind explaining to me what you meant when you so often referred, in your remarks, to ‘ the gentler sex’? ” “Treferred, sir,” answered the lecturer, in his most sentimental tones, “to woman. Ah, sir, can it be that the simile was lost upon you? If you are a married man—if you have taken unto your bosom one of these fair, fragile flowers of the garden of life—then you surely realize the utterly precious thought embodied in the words ‘the gentler sex.’ ”” “You may be right, sir,” responded the stranger. ‘‘ It may be gentler asa sex, but I might have disputed you had you spoken of the sextette.”’ After the stranger departed, it was whispered about that he was the gentleman from Utah who had come into prominence by the discovery that he possessed six wives. Qualified Acquiescence. ae “WE Isee that Bunting is here bright and early this morn- ing,” said the junior partner, looking around the counting house, “ Well, atall events he’s here early,"* was the privileged bookkeeper's modi- fication. LANDMARKS. He: 1 BEG YOUR PARDON—I—ER—DIDN'T QUITE CATCH YOUR NAME—BUT IP YOU HAD A RED Rose, IN YOUR DRESS WHEN YOU FIRST CAME, I-ER—THINK THIS 18 OUR DANCE. purst FASHION ABLE BABY: Ever [ NDIFFERENCE in the gir] one loves see your mother? * - is never balanced by lack of it in Seconp F. B.: Yes, at the baby show. the girl one doesn't love. THE WRONG SIZE. Aunty Giraffe: psuaw | AND LBOUONT TINS EXPECTALS TO STEAM GUT A SORE THROAT. comicbooks.com