Life, 1905-12-21 · page 11 of 30
Life — December 21, 1905 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This cartoon satirizes the pressures of maintaining social appearances despite financial hardship. Two figures sit at a dining table with champagne, both exaggeratedly dressed and groomed—one in jewelry and fashionable dress, the other in formal evening wear. Money scattered on the ground suggests extravagant spending. The accompanying article, "How to Live on Nothing a Year," describes a family surviving on $300 annually while the husband "must wear expensive clothes" to maintain appearances. The satire targets the era's social expectation that respectable people must *appear* wealthy regardless of actual finances—a commentary on class pretension and the financial strain of maintaining status through conspicuous consumption.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“ “My little girl will find it much more amusing,” replied Mrs. Meadowlark, with a tender smile. “Ah, Maisie,” smoothing the gleaming, chestnut which rippled far below the s, “you must get a bat, or a mouse, or some earwigs tangled up in these sunny curls to-morrow, and then, with timid tremors, implore Regi- nald Skinacent to aid you in removing them “Oh, mother,” murmured Maisie, ing wonderingly into the pale, saint- bent above her, “how much Mother has not forgotten that she, too, was once young and fair, You have pretty feet, also, Maisie. Ask Reginald nacent to walk through the meadows with you; and see to it that your little shoes become frequent- ly untied.” In the dawn of the following day, THE APPEARANCE OF WEALTH, as young Reginald Skinacent watched the morning glories and climbing roses peep in at his window, and the sunlight glint over the patchwork quilt, he won- dered if he, with naught but his beg- rly millions to recommend him, could ever hope to win the heart of beautiful, innocent Maisie Meadow- lark (To be continued in our next) How to Live on Nothing a Year. W are in receipt of so helpful a letter from one of our sub- scribers that we gladly publish it in full: “After reading one of the stimu- lating and inspiring letters in a Wom- an’s Magazine, wherein a father of lies states that himself, his wife and ten children have lived in modest lux- ury on a salary of three hundred dol- lars a year, my husband looked at me 773 with the expression of one who sees a new planet swim into his ken r Mary,’ he murmured, excit- edly, ‘this thing must he carried to its logical conclusion. If these people can live on almost nothing, should not we, with our ¢ ing at all? “At first his idea seemed and then T embraced it wi asm. This was the result: nbined wits, live on noth- fetched, hh enthusi- “Between us we had ninety-cight cents with which to start our interest- ing experiment; but as my husband pointed out to me, quick w readi- ness of resource, colossal nerve, a good acquaintance among smart people, and the appearance of wealth constitute a better capital than mere dollars. “Of course, my husband being a croo —a financier, and myself an adventur— a perfect lady, it was necessary for us to wear expensive clothes. My idea of comicbooks.com