Life, 1908-06-11 · page 14 of 20
Life — June 11, 1908 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct pieces of satire: **"Distinctions"** is a moral commentary using parallel structure to expose hypocrisy in Gilded Age society. It contrasts criminal or unethical behavior by ordinary people with socially-respected versions of the same acts by the wealthy and powerful. Examples: a grocer adulterating sugar is dishonest, but a corporation "watering stock" (inflating value fraudulently) is called "financier"; killing one person is murder, but military killing is heroic; retail liquor sales are disreputable, but wholesale distilling is "respectable business." The satire targets how society applies double standards based on class—condemning poor people's crimes while celebrating rich people's identical ones. **"The Eternal Feminine"** shows a woman obsessing over her appearance while claiming not to care ("I do hope my hat's on straight!") while a man stares—satirizing female vanity and pretense. Both pieces critique social hypocrisy, though the first targets economic corruption and class bias, while the second targets gender stereotypes.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
642 Jealousy s° IME, to every soul, there comes in strife, A dragon fierce as myth or minotaur, With peace and hope, and happiness at war, Yet guarding for us all that's dear in life. Our love is nursed and cradled on its breast, Without it, ’tis a cold and lifeless thin A soulless passion, and without its sti It has not reached its height, its depth, best Have you not felt its pangs? The ecstasy Of all life's heaven-born rapture shuns your heart. It is divinely meant to be a part Of all the life of love—'tis jealousy Emma Playter Seabury. Distinctions HE man who gambles for a living is a dis- reputable person; but the one who plays football A. with other people’s + property on the EF Stock Exchange is highly respected by socie The grocer who salts his sugar is a cheat; but the cor- poration owner who waters stock is a financier. ‘The man who kills another is a mur- derer; but the general who kills thousands is a hero, The person who defrauds another is dishonest; but the one who defrauds the Government in the payment of taxes is clever. The man who plays with loaded dice is a scoundrel; but the corporation di- THE ETERNAL FEMI “MERCY, HOW THAT HORRID MAN IS STARING AT ME! I DO HOPE MY HAT’S ON STRAIGHT!” FORTHE SIMPLE LIFE AT WAVE CREST VILLA: AIR; NO DUST, TROLLI rector who manipulates the stock of his company for his personal benefit is a Napoleon of Finance. The person who charges a high rate of interest is a usurer, but the bank which loans “call money” at one hundred per cent is highly thought of. The man who sells liquor at retail by the glass is not considered an ornament to society, but the one who distils it and supplies him by the hogshead is in a respectable business and welcomed. The man who sells poison or dope con- trary to law is punished if caught, but the man who sells it as a patent medicine can do so openly and advertise. EXTENDED VIEW, WATER PRIVILEGE, FINE FISHING, , AUTOS, BURGLARS OR BOOK AGENTS PURE The man who draws a nude picture risks a visit from Saint Anthony Com- stock, but a display of legs and busts in a store where men and women mingle is quite proper. To betray confidence is wrong, but to buy the secrets of a competitor is business. To fail is to be pitied, but to get rich is to fail to be pitied. Henry Waldorf Francis. OTHER: Why, Bobbie, how clean your hands are! Boasts: Aren't they! But you ought to have seen 'em before helped Bridget make the bread!