Life, 1905-02-16 · page 17 of 24
Life — February 16, 1905 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine contains book reviews and several satirical cartoon jokes typical of early 20th-century humor. **The cartoons mock domestic situations:** 1. **"A Bad Auto Break"** shows a stranded couple; the woman asks if they're far from home, and the man replies "It all depends"—suggesting marital discord where he's in no hurry to return. 2. **The marriage proposal joke** plays on class anxiety: a suitor tells the father his daughter promised to marry him once he could support her. The father's reassurance ("don't let that worry you") darkly implies the daughter won't marry him. 3. **The kiss/scream joke** presents a woman threatening to cry for help if kissed, with the man confidently stating he needs no assistance—suggesting he's physically overpowering. 4. **The "dog watch" pun** jokes about a broken timepiece that only works 4-8 PM (a nautical "dog watch" term), with wordplay on "dog watch" as something of low value. These reflect period attitudes about gender relations, courtship, and marriage—often cynical and assuming male persistence in romantic/physical matters.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
~ domestic mood, and those who sub- scribe to her opinions of Men Under Thirty-five will best leave the over- powering bride-and-groominess of the Jardines to a younger generation, OF the Highway is a new Alice Prescott Smith, whict out the promise of The L Smith's first novel. It is a tale of the California mountains, and the ease with which our interest is held by a complication as old as fiction, is a fair 1 talent for the creation and presentation of char: K. and Hesketh Prichard, in The Chronicles ef Den Q., relate some of the adventures of dores in rT Don Q. is a cousin (several times re- moved) of Robin Hood —indeed, all out- law heroes of romance seem to bear to each other a strong family resemblance and although he has no Friar Tuck to keep him company, and no Sir Walter index of the author's r Chief of seguestra- s of southern A BAD AUTO BREAK. (Night coming on, too.) Jack Golightly > ann we VAR PROM Moa? Gladys Rockabilt: iT MUL DEFENDS, to make him immortal, there is consid- erable go to these record: his life. J. B. Kerfoot. ouvernear Morris phen Phillips. (The lan Company. Heart of Happy Hollow. Vy Pat mpany. $1 Moc. (Charles By Lilian Bell, ) By Alice Prescott Smith, ny. $t go) ‘ompany, Phila- “YOUR daughter has promised to marry me, sir, the moment I support her.” “Well, don’t let that worry you” HE: If you attempt to kiss me, I shall certainly scream for help But I don’t need any help “ @PRING came earlier this year than Jast.”’ “Indeed ? I thought it was a year later.” “THIS WATCH Is NO GOOD-IT KEEPS TIME ONLY BETWEEN 4 AND 8 P.M.” “WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FOR A DOG WATCH 2?” comicbooks.com