Life, 1909-02-18 · page 6 of 32
Life — February 18, 1909 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily an **advertisement for Ivory Soap**, not political satire. The image shows two women examining table linens at a formally set dinner table, illustrating a domestic scene about household management. The accompanying text argues that fine linens are essential to making a proper impression on dinner guests—more important even than silver or china. It recommends using Ivory Soap specifically for washing delicate fabrics like linens and laces, claiming the soap won't damage fine materials. The ad emphasizes Ivory Soap's purity (99 44/100% pure) and gentle formula as superior to ordinary laundry soap for luxury textiles. This reflects early 20th-century middle-class domestic values and anxieties about maintaining proper social standing through household presentation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The silver is important. So is the china. But the keynote of a well- appointed table is the linen. And so, if you wish to make just the right impression on your guests, you will ask yourself these questions: Is the linen spotlessly clean? Does it look like linen? Has it that crisp, inviting appearance that linen always should have, and which it almost never does have if washed with any other than Ivory Soap? That is the best way to wash linen—with Ivory Soap. Ordinary laundry soap is all very well for ordinary purposes, but not for washing linen—or laces— or woolens—or anything else that is above-the-ordinary. There is no ‘éfree’? alkali in Ivory Soap. That is why it will not injure the finest fabric or the most delicate skin. Ivory Soap... . 994%0 Per Cent. Pure. comicbooks.com