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Life, 1908-01-16 · page 22 of 24

Life — January 16, 1908 — page 22: what you’re looking at

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Life — January 16, 1908 — page 22: Life, 1908-01-16

What you’re looking at

This page is primarily **advertisements** with an embedded satirical essay about the author's experiences visiting America. The central text describes a visitor (likely British, given references to "at home") attending two American gatherings: a "Comb and Brush" meeting and a "Puritan Mothers' Meeting." The satire targets **American religious hypocrisy and puritanical enforcement of Sunday laws**. The author initially praised strict Sabbath observance to his hosts, thinking this would please them. However, he later discovered the "Puritan Mothers" were actually young women ("flappers") dressed fashionably—contradicting their supposed pious restraint. He also offered to pay fines for young men's transgressions, an offer that backfired when reported in newspapers. The joke: **American "Puritans" don't actually live according to their strict moral codes**—they're hypocritical, fashionable, and easily offended when their inconsistency is exposed. The surrounding ads (whiskey, liqueur, hats, shoes) ironically coexist with this critique of American moral pretension.

📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

LIQUEUR PERES CHARTREUX —GREEN AND YELLOW— THE AFTER-DINNER .LIQUEUR OF REFINED TASTE JOHN JAMESON Wy WHISKEY Vou are offering the best when you serve Jameson’s Sole Agents W. A. TAYLOR & CO. New York Comb and Brush, which I recognized at once as both pious and respectable, I took pains to express my approval of the manner in which the Sunday laws were being enforced and to express my hearty dis- approval of the infamous code which but recently had permitted people to attend concerts, to dine in restaurants with music, to play games and,in other ways to desecrate the Sabbath. When I thought of all that our rigid observance of Sunday has done for us at home, my heart warmed toward those noble men and women who were trying to make the New York Sunday as dull as that of London. So I delivered a stirring address on the text, “Close up everything and we'll do the rest.” I found out afterward that some of the Combs and Brushes did not quite under- stand me and that others were not in sympathy with my ideas, but, after all, they were an odd-looking company, and so quceerly dressed and had such small hands and feet and moved so easily and had such striking hats, that one could scarcely expect common-sense from them. My next queer experience was at a gathering called the Puritan Mothers’ Meeting, which was still more remarkable in point of dress and the age of the women present. I suppose they were all mothers, but several of them were what we should call at home, “flappers.” They all looked respectable, and certainly Providence never intended them for anything else. Nearly every one to whom I was introduced took me to be one of the Mothers and asked me to address the meeting, and I certainly thought that, I was doing the proper thing when I told them that I had been even, more than a mother myself to hundreds of young men at home, and that there were no persons in whom I took a deeper interest than young men and young women and that I always stood ready to pay their fines when called upon, It was really very annoying after I had taken the trouble to make this very flattering and conciliatory little speech, to find myself attacked in newspaper inter- views by several of the Puritan Mothers % The first Derby made in America was a C&K. Hats for Men NAPP-FELT hats wear long and well. The : favorable impres- sion made by their noticeable elegance of style is confirmed by theirexceptional strength and durability. KNAPP-FELT De Luxe Six Dollars — Knapp-Felt, Four Dollars, everywhere. Tur CroruT & KNAPP Co. | BROADWAY, AT THIRTEENTH ST.. NEW YORK WS The Acme of Comfort Elegance and Ne 256 Women's $1.50 + $1.10 & $1.25 bs only, no rar) + + = $2.00 DELIVERED Felt Romeos Made of fine, pure “Comfy Felt,” richly fur bound. Soles of noiseless belting leather. Colors: Black, Red, Brown, Drab, Dark Green, Navy Blue, Gray, Wine and Purp'e. Send Jor Catalogue No. 32 showing many new styles Daniel Green Felt Shoe Co. American Felt Building 114-116 East 13th Street, New York S) Seventy days. costing oaly 8100.00 CLARK'S CRUISE OF THE “ ARABIC” 16,000 tons, fine, large, unusual'y steady, T To THE ORIEN February 6 to April 17, 1908 op, Including shore excursont, Madeira, Cadiz, Seville, Algt | the “Holy Land, Coestaatisoples athens 40 TOURS TO EUROPE =: ttractive ever offered. CLAWK, Times Balldi