Life, 1909-05-27 · page 10 of 32
Life — May 27, 1909 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes marriages between prominent men and trained nurses. The top cartoon shows storks (symbolizing babies/marriage) with the caption "What are you doing with that thing? Playing I'm the stork" — a joke about nurses becoming wives rather than caregivers. The article mocks men who marry nurses, suggesting it's cheaper than paying a nurse's salary. It argues trained nurses make poor wives because they're accustomed to command, create household disorder, run expensive establishments, and lack the "necessary attributes" for domestic life. The lower photograph titled "The Missing Link" appears to show a wedding scene, likely illustrating an actual such marriage. The satire reflects early 20th-century anxieties about changing gender roles as women entered professional nursing.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIFE* Matrimony and Trained Nurses HERE have been a number of instances lately of prominent men who have married their trained nurses, circumstances having fa- vored a preliminary courtship which has led right up to the altar. A widower may call a trained nurse in to take care of his children, a bachelor may be nursed back to life by one of these indispensable adjuncts to modern civilization. Our literature has taken account of this, and in at least two books published within the past year the trained nurse has taken a prominent part. It is oftentimes cheaper to marry a trained nurse per- manently than to pay her salary. These delightful people— “WHAT AKE YOU DOING WITH THAT THING? "* “ PLAYING I’M THE STORK.”” More Remarkable R. PILLEM: You needn't worry about your wife. She has a remarkable constitution! Henrex: Say, doc, you ought to see her by-laws, and regulations! Mr. Bug (returning from club): anv just THINK (111C) 1 WAS FOOL ENOUGH TO MARRY A CENTIPEDE. when they are delightful—are likely to be wasteful when drawing a salary. They make large washings, disturb the servants, use up a lot of expensive food, and cannot be ex- pected to take the same economical interest in a household that they would if the principal they succeed in saving may in time advert to themselves. Therefore, it is often better to marry them at once and to get the thing off one’s mind. The fact that the trained nurse is becoming so prominent in matrimony does not argue well for the average girl, brought up in a boarding school, and who has learned all of the ac- complishments, but none of the necessary attributes. It shows that in the economy of life, men are likely, other things being equal, to move along the lines of least resistance and choose “THE MISSING LINK”? the most desirable partners. If trained nurses were proverbially comicbooks.com