Life, 1906-02-08 · page 5 of 24
Life — February 8, 1906 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine contains several satirical sections mocking social conventions of the era: **"Panama"** jokes about the Panama Canal's construction costs and engineering. **"Divorce"** presents philosophical commentary on marriage's failures, suggesting neither gender finds happiness in matrimony—a critique of the institution itself rather than individuals. **"Pertinent and Impertinent"** shows Mr. Rogers declining to answer straightforward questions about honesty, God, and science, satirizing evasiveness or hypocrisy in public figures. The illustration depicts what appears to be a legal or business transaction between a well-dressed man and a younger person, likely accompanying one of these satirical pieces about marriage dissolution or financial matters. **"The Wall Street Lover"** jokes about income disparity in relationships, where a man earning $2,000 claims he cannot afford living expenses that his partner making $20,000 manages easily—mocking male financial pretense or dependence.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Panama. ING a song of millions, Pockets full of graft, Four and twenty measures All turned down by Taft, When the ditch was opened The cracks began to sing. Oh, wasn’t that a handsome dish To set before the ring Divorce. HEN we bethink us what an infinitude of the finest chivalry the man need hav and what an infinitude of the noblest patience a woman need have, in order that they two. may be entirely happy though married, we are fain to wonder if only angels are fit for matri- mony, and with that we bethink us that there are no women angels, and must fall a prey at last to the suspicion that possibly, after all, marriage never was intended to be wholly a means of making men and women happy, any more than diges- tion, although both may well be pro- ductive of happiness when they go forward on right lines. Pertinent and Impertinent. R. ROGERS now took the stand. “* Do you believe that uonesty is the best policy ?"” I decline to answer—on advice of counsel.” * Do you believe in a God?" “ T decline to answer, etc.” **Do you believe that the sun rises ** How about the law of gravitation ?”” ** Decline — Matrimonial. HREE Germans were sitting at luncheon recently, and were over- heard discussing the second marriage of a mutual friend, when one of them o coee ers remarked : weasnimeseNae “TM tell you vhat. A man vhat arries de seco ime, don't deserve 5 : marries de nd time. dod! deserve Favorite Musical Instruments. The Wall Street Lover. to have lost his first vife."" HE burglar's—the lute. The scold’s HE: How much do you earn a year? “| (ONSIDER the lilies of the Wal- —the harp. The aurist’s—the drum. Hr: About $2,000. dorf-Astoria. They toil not, The card fiend’s-—-the trumpet. The “ But we can't live on that neither do they spin; yet Solomon in apothecary’s--the viol. ‘The mathema- “+ You asked me how much I earned, all his glory, ete.” n’s—the triangle. I make about $20,000."" comicbooks.com