Life, 1903-12-17 · page 3 of 22
Life — December 17, 1903 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the commercialization of marriage and gift-giving. The cartoon shows a couple presenting an editor with a poem titled "My Life is a Useless Burden," which he rejects, suggesting he publish "Wife" instead and promising damages. **The satire:** The accompanying text, "Uncle Sam's New Line," mocks extravagant wedding gift expectations. It presents absurd diamond quantities as engagement gifts—ranging from "two barrels" (Papa) to "half-barrel diamonds" (Little Sister)—treating precious gems as casual commodities. **The joke:** The piece ridicules both commercialized marriages where gifts become burdensome obligations and the American consumer culture that encourages excessive spending on weddings. The contrast between serious poetry and frivolous diamond gifting emphasizes the satirical point about materialistic values displacing genuine sentiment.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
HE WILL GET THEM ALL RIGHT. Editor: coxa To svz vs POR DAMAGES! “TeENT TOU A POEM ENTITLED, ‘MY LIFE IS A USELESS BURDEN,’ AND YOU PRINTED ‘WIPE’ INSTEAD OF *LIPE,' AND PUBLISHED IT Oven MT NAMF. THEN MY WIPE saw itt Uncle Sam’s New Line. IPLOMACY,” mused Uncle Sam, “Ts strenuous now and up-to- date, Behold how well-equipped Tam To make republics while you wait ‘Pwo burdens are laid on men: Todesire what they have not ; and to have what they desire. AND I WANT DAMAGES. AND T'LL GET "eM, Too!” Presents. T[PHERE is a sameness about the presents at our large weddings. One tires of reading : Papa—Two barrels diamonds. Big Brother—One barrel diamonds. Little Sister—One-half barrel dia- monds (except where the child impul- sively blows all her pocket money for a month, and makes it a whole barrel), Uncle monds, Groom—One peck diamonds (unless he is a nobleman and can’t get trusted for more than a pint). Of course it is the effect of the De Beers outfit strangling competition. If diamonds were suffered to become cheap, nice people wonld naturally give something else, William—Five barrels dia- comicbooks.com