Life, 1907-03-07 · page 20 of 52
Life — March 7, 1907 — page 20: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Life magazine page satirizes early American history through the lens of 1920s social attitudes. The main cartoon depicts a woman being arrested as a witch in Salem (1692), captioned as "A simpler method than divorce for long-suffering husbands"—the joke being that accusing women of witchcraft was essentially a convenient way to rid oneself of an unwanted wife. The accompanying text discusses Salem witchcraft fads, Puritan attitudes, and Native American displacement with casual, dismissive language typical of the era. The satire targets both historical Puritans and contemporary attitudes: it mocks old superstitions while implying modern men still resent women's independence (note: "many women in Massachusetts remain single"). The broader point appears to be darkly comic commentary on how civilizations justify eliminating inconvenient people—whether indigenous populations or difficult wives—as inevitable "progress."
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
*>LIFE- OUR BEGINNINGS Hot Weather History shrouded in mystery. Itis thought, how- times the natives resorted to the place to ever, to be a corruption of the Indian — escape the rush and roar of the primeval Verydullferyer. From the very earliest solitude. The Philadelphia trolley system : ; It was almost as absurd as some of our own fads, although the eT country was much newer and the cost of 1 OZ UH maT mere) th living less. Women were actually ac: y f re ——— cused of throwing spells, when nothing is more certain than that a woman can’t throw, At the same time, it isto be borne in mind that Puritan girls mostly had hazel eyes, and it is barely possible that the hazel was in some isolated instances. witch-hazel Anyway, witchery was pretty much done with, and to this day many women in Massachusetts remain single. ‘The Puritans had their gentler moods, cant that whereas Salem and passed, Me ford rum abode. Moreover, there is the beautiful idyl of Miles Standish and John Alden, illustrating for all time how hardly n sheet iron, may S M witchcraft was one of the fads. of the day. aX SE SSe SS DES — = a a soldier, who dress s his suit. ‘There was always more or less friction | between the Puritans and the Amalekites, or Indians. ‘The Indians professed to find it inconvenient to be cheated out of their -teeth. It is by no means the only instance of inferior people shrinking from their destiny and shirking their part in the great scheme of the universe. In- ferior people almost invariably had rather be accommodating. It is the mark of their inferiorit But of course the march of civilization was not to be held up. ‘The chosen race had brought, shrewdly enough, not only an abundance of red calico and glass beads, but sundry vices as well, and all of these, together with the Christian religion, were too much for the aborigines, and they gradually disappeared from the face of the earth. ARRESTED AS A WITCH IN SALEM, 1692 The origin of the name Philadelphia is A SIMPLER METHOD THAN DIVORCE FOR LONG-SUTFERING HUSBANDS. | comicbooks.com