Life, 1906-07-26 · page 9 of 20
Life — July 26, 1906 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This two-panel comic uses exaggerated caricature to mock marriage motivations. The left panel depicts a poor, older man with a younger woman and child, captioned with crude reasoning about economic security. The right panel shows a woman with elaborate dress marrying a plain man, with the caption suggesting she married him because he was financially stable ("good fellow") despite being unattractive. The satire targets mercenary attitudes toward marriage prevalent in early 20th-century society—suggesting both genders married for financial rather than romantic reasons. The grotesque facial caricatures emphasize the couples' incompatibility, implying marriage was fundamentally a business transaction rather than a love match.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
and send it to the book reviewers—then you'll learn how bad it is. Isn’t that so, Joc?” There was a silence between them. In the general hum no one noticed it. She rose. ‘I must go,” she said, abruptly. “What for? Have I offended you?” “Certainly not. Good-night.” “‘Joe—old man,” this in a whisper. “Well?” He looked at her quizzically. ‘Before we part, IT want to ask you something— your advice. To-morrow we both go home—I to business, you to your new life. Perhaps you can tell me something of real value. Will you come?” He led the way through the throng, through the music and reception rooms, out onto a side piazza, screened with palms—a fad with the professor’s wife. There were two vacant chairs. “What do you wish of me?” she said, shortly. “Simply this Iam desperately in love -LIFE: with you—as a woman. Now, as a man, do you think there is any hope for me?” “Not the slightest.” “Honest—Joe, old chap?” “Absolutely.” Her face was stern and unrelenting. He reached forward and took her hand, as if to say good-by—and held it for a moment. “All right,” he said, “only—I'd like to say something more, now that it’s all over, and that is, Miss Josephine, that I was wrong to- night. You shouldn't have doubled that no-trump hand. I should have finessed that queen. I ought to have been polite and gotten you that salad. And as for what you said about Darwin, he did discover evolution, and your essay was finer than any masculine one that I’ve heard for years. I was wrong, Miss Josephine, and you were right.” Her face softened. “Perhaps,” she id, ‘I might possibly recensider that decision—that is, on one condition.” WHY THEY MARRIED 101 I ut his arms around her. “And inat is?” he whispered. “That you treat me like a woman all the rest of our lives.” Tom Masson. Favorite Slang Expressions if beans judge’s—Go hang. The dentist’s—You have a nerve. The dyspeptic’s—That’s rich. The minister’s—Good Lord. The lover’s—I like your cheek. The sportsman’s—Oh, shoot it. The drummer’s—Beat it. The single-taxer’s—By George. The doctor’s—Dead easy. The detective’s—After you, my dear Alphonse. The dyer’s—Fade away. The printer’s—The devil. The spendthrift’s—Dear me. TH stoutest pessimist is an optimist about himself. NE MARRIED HER BECAUSE SHE DIDN'T SWAGGER LIKE A MAN, NOR DID SME STAND WITH FEET APART, TODS IN; SUE WASN'T A “GOOD YELLOW,” THICKLY COATED WITH A TAN— SME WAS MERELY LOVELY, REALLY FEMININE POOR AS JOB'S TURKEY AND NOT OVERSTRONG— A THREE-DOLLAR Jon THY, MAN COULDN'T — FORCED TO CONCLUDE THAT THEY MARRIE: THERE WAS EVERY GOOD REASON THEY SHOULDN'T! comicbooks.com