Life, 1905-10-26 · page 5 of 26
Life — October 26, 1905 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main cartoon by James Montgomery Flagg depicts a couple at a public display or window, with spectators watching from outside. The title "Engaged" and subtitle "His Attitude" suggest social commentary on courtship behavior and public propriety. The accompanying poems—"The New Thought," "Epitaph," and "The Definition of the Defeated"—appear to satirize modern romantic attitudes and social anxieties of the era. The verses mock both romantic idealism ("dread beast, that haunts the moonlit grove") and practical concerns about marriage and social standing. The humor targets the performative nature of courtship and engagement, particularly how couples present themselves publicly versus privately—a critique of artificial social conventions around romance and marriage that would have resonated with Life magazine's educated, urban audience.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The New Thought. HO? stung by Chance or massacred by Fate, Tho’ eggs be bad and potentates unkind, Ever preserve a glad, contented state Of mind. Undone, forsaken, persecuted, shot, orned by a maid or bitten by a shark, Smile, and ejaculate, Now, really, what A lark!” What tho’ the ticker, with relentless cluck, Stutters the loss of everything you had, You've only to observe, ‘* Well, this is luck! I'm glad!" ENGAGED. His weds When that dread beast, that haunts the moonlit grove, Makes all the world unfit for mortal noses, Affirm it is an ottar, of —by Jove— Roses, When, above all, your ni Are ill, or when their dividends have ceased, bors or your kin Assure them that it doesn’t matter, in The least. So shall you live in universal bliss, Joyous, beloved, immune from melancholy, And be your gleeful epitaph but this: How jolly 1 F. Dana, Epitaph. Is Memory of our Father join his appendix, his ton olfactory nerve, his kidney, his ear- drum, and prematurely removed by a hospital surgeon who craved the experience. The Definition of the Defeated. HE: And so you think I'm a co- quette? Why, I don’t believe you know what a coquette is. He (étterly): A coquette is a woman who syndicates her affections. I union there is boodle. : Gone to comicbooks.com