Life, 1909-05-27 · page 11 of 32
Life — May 27, 1909 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main cartoon depicts a social scene at what appears to be a public venue or marketplace. A well-dressed man in a suit and hat addresses a floorwalker, asking "Is this your bargain counter?" and "I'm looking for my wife," to which the floorwalker replies "Well, sir, take your pick." The satire mocks the uniformity and interchangeability of fashionable women of the era—suggesting that well-dressed women at such venues all look identical, making wives indistinguishable from one another. It's a commentary on conformity in women's fashion and social behavior during this period. The accompanying article discusses trained nurses, their professional training, and their value to households, suggesting contemporary debates about women's professional roles.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“IS THIS YOUR BARGAIN COUNTER?" homely creatures, there would doubtless be no show for them, even under these favorable practical auspices. But trained nurses are not homely. Their garb also favors them. An aver- age woman, so far as looks go, seems to be transformed into a sort of every day angel the moment she puts on the dress of a trained nurse. She becomes imme- diately invested with that sweet, tender, womanly temperament that suffuses a gentle glow over every man’s heart, and awakens that latent sentiment which is quite indifferent to the bridge playing, smart, millinery aspect of so many of our modern women. The trained nurse also has another advantage by no means to be despised. She always looks clean. Many well dressed women convey an in- definable impression of having been thrown together, and this in spite of the fact that they may carry upon their heads any number of pounds of care- \ AN \\ \ Floorwalker: “17M LOOKIN “WELL, SIR, TAKE YOUR PICK.’* fully selected hair, and may have been fussed over for hours by a dressmaker. Their vanity, or possibly a certain loose- ness of moral structure, is often revealed in this way to the masculine eye. Is the deflection to the trained nurse by so many of our leading citizens in reality in the nature of a revolt against those conditions which produce the smart, sophisticated, over-athletic bridge playing girl? Certainly the experience which a trained nurse gets is infinitely more valuable to a household than that of the average “ finished '? woman, and the fact that this very training docs not seem to take from, but rather add to, her senti- mentality, is a potent argument in her favor. Thomas L. Masson. REPUTATION at a quilting bee lasts about as long as a celluloid gargoyle on Satan’s old homestead. vA YES, SIR. Old Mrs. Fly: 1 tou you, MARy Serge 727 you'p GET CAUGHT IP YOU KEPT ON BUZZING AROUND THAT OLD BACHELOR. comicbooks.com