Life, 1909-04-22 · page 7 of 32
Life — April 22, 1909 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This cartoon by Kate Masterson illustrates a domestic comedy scene about spring cleaning in an apartment ("flat"). The sketch shows a plumber working inside a home while a woman watches, with the caption "TAX-A-CAB." The humor appears to reference the absurdity of spring maintenance tasks—the plumber is actively working on pipes while the domestic space undergoes renovation. The "tax-a-cab" reference likely puns on taxi services, though the exact satirical target is unclear from the image alone. It seems to mock the chaos and expense of urban apartment living during spring renovations, when various tradespeople (plumbers, painters) must be hired, making the season costly for homeowners.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LIFE* The Gentlemen’s Home Journal BY INEZ HAYNES GILLMORE JANUARY, 1925 The Contents of This Number. Cover—* The Summer Man,” Jessie Wilcox Smith, Tue Eprror’s Persona Pace, Carrie Chapman Catt. (1) The working woman must pay alimony. (2) Does a college education unfit a man for husbandhood and fatherhood? (3) What is the matter with our boys? Domestic Service FoR Mex, Jane Addams, (1) Men chambermaids in the best hotels. (2) The man in the nursery. Low Six Women Proposep to Hit, Carolyn Wells. Wuat Orner Mex Have Founp Out, Hetty Green. 41) Do not shave your neck. (2) The soft-bosomed shirt evening clothes. with (3) Etiquette of the manicure par- lor. Tue Youxc Husnao’s Guior, Mrs. Leslie Carter. (1) How to run a furnace. (2) How to mow the lawn. StKoxg Mex Questioys, Marie Dressler. (1) Deep breathing for short-waist- ed men. — William H. Taft. (2) Breathe from the hip. Thomas W. Lawson, (3) Massage reduces the Adam's apple. Charles W. Fairbanks. Cuever Ecoxoaies In Litter Taxes, Mrs. Russell Sage. (1) How to make last year’s swal- low-tail into this year’s dinner coat. John D. Rockefeller. (2) Save your discarded ties to make portieres. J. Pierpont Morgan. Coxrrssions oF a CLunwosay’s Hus- BAND. Max Wio Maxes His Ows Ctoturs, Dr. Mary Walker. (1) Can a man dress on fifty dol- lars a year? 2) Pressing a panama at home. For tHe Dex. (1) Combination morris-cha and typewriter dest from a peach-crate. Tur Spring in a Flat BY KATE MASTERSON Weicone the apple blossom days, The glinting sky—the rose leaf haze That hangs upon the atmosphere, To mind us that the Spring is here, And through the lilting afternoons The busy calsominer croons. Hail te the greet of early morn, And also hail, ere day is born, The One who, waiting on the mat, ‘Tells you he’s come to po the flat. Fling wide the door! Sirg Ho! The paper hanger’s here! Long past high noon! A drowsy plash Repeats its music—then a splash, A gurgle like a wakened brook, Surbling across a woody nook, What raptures in its meaning lurk— ‘The painter man is now at work! The dawn is near! 547 (2) Drawing-room cellarette made from cigar-boxes. Symrosium. Conducted by Charlotte Perkins Stetson Gilman. Subject—How Shall We Keep Our Wives at Home? Contributors—Nat Goodwin, De Wolf Hopper, William E, Corey, To tue Fatuea or Maxy, By a Grandfather. Wuy I Am Gran I Ast a Man, Richmond Pearson Hobson. Wnuat Otner Men Tett Teppy, Theodore Roosevelt. This month their ideas run to bou- tonnieres, pajamas and scarf- pins. Wuat Younc Fatuers Ask Me, Marie Corelli. Gotxcaway CLotues, Edna Wallace Hopper Brown, Tue Smoxer’s Corner, Mrs, Humphrey Ward. (1) Newest things in cigarette cases. (2) How to make smoke-rings. Onver or THe Quer Tur Groo ’s Sons, . Helen Gould. Unxxow Husvaxns or Famous Wome, Lillian Russell, Goop Maxners anv Goop Form, Edith Wharton, Carrie Nation. Gtiy Heaps Qullanrte How to Serve Wines, Step ladders here—step ladders there, And lo—with putty in her hair, Dances Spring's goddess—promise-ripe— Hark—hark how the plumber hits the pipe! Mite habia Sparks from the Fur of an Old Maid’s Cat N air-castle is so fragile a thing it is little wonder that it a real man gets into it. “Grandes passions "” apt to be shattered when are as well adapted to make happy marriages as gunpowder is to light the kitchen fire. It is not always the one who gets most ina bar- gain who is to be envied. Many a man who, in return for a comfortable affection has had a woman's whole heart and soul given to him, hasn’t known in the least what to do with them. Swing high—swing low, and all around, \ith jocund step that spurns the ground; The way of the can't-guess-her is hard. Margaret H. Wentworth, “TAX-A-CaB ’*