Life, 1909-06-24 · page 12 of 29
Life — June 24, 1909 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct satirical pieces: 1. **"The Place We're All Looking For"** (top left): An abandoned farm advertised for sale with "all improvements / not a cold water garage." This mocks the post-WWI trend of wealthy urbanites seeking rural retreats while expecting modern conveniences—satirizing unrealistic expectations about country living. 2. **"Husband's Correspondence Bureau"** (center): A advice column responding to marital complaints, particularly about wives' spending habits and social activities. The bureau humorously promises to "cure" problematic wives, reflecting period tensions over women's increasing independence and consumer spending. 3. **"The Butterfly and the Grub"** (bottom right): An illustrated joke about food prices, featuring a woman comparing expensive items (ham, beef, eggs) to a character labeled "the grub," likely satirizing post-war inflation and food costs.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
"ALL IMPROVEMENTS -| HOT & COLD WATER| GARAGE. Fe wr a THE PLACE WE'RE ALL LOOKING FOR Husband's Correspondence Bureau T cannot be emphasized too often that the real object of this bureau is to bring all husbands together, 10 promote, so to speak, a feeling of sympathy for each other's sufferings until (under our guidance) the causes of the unrest have been removed, We ask patience on the part of subscribers Here, for example, is the sort of a letter This is not a miracle factory that hurts us deeply Yesterday my wife w hat several acres in area, and c was sixty dollars, And t6 cap the Where are your boasted rem Dra have bee and thei and bou formed me that the she said she bought it to wear to ‘t that get on your nerves! dies? And what am J to ¢ Dear friend, if you expect to cure your wife of such tendencies in two weeks you have entirely misconceived the possibilities of this bure Our small, modest, inexpensive hat treatment As for suffragetis, we don’t guarantee to cure it. We its effects, as we will do in your case if you will only give us achance. Have a little faith. In six m begin to get results. If not, we will cheerfully refund your money We want to call the attention of all our prospective cus- tomers (and even present patrons) to our club rates. In kes at least six months. can usually ameliorate hs’ time you w many towns it often happens that husbands are afflicted by Now by 1 b we can If all the women are playing bridge t club rates for a member- the same class of evils. give you cheaper rates. in your town we will treat ther ship over ten. That is to say, every membership for a specific purpose like this, with over ten members, will receive a dis. count of ten per cent. fro From fifteen to twenty, ten per cent. in addition, and so on, up to forty Our experience is that no club over forty in number is safe We bad a club of fifty, but before we could secure tive results they got impatient, and as they were all banded together they caused a riot in the town and the police had our regular rates. ny posi- ELIZABETH IN HeR GERMAN GARDEN to be called in, with the result that local sympathy all went with the wives and it was impossible for us to treat them successfull Here is a letter that will appeal to a vast number: Deax Beerav: Two months ago my wife secured a divorce from me, and as [ immediately married a voung and v retty girl, I Id have no further need of your urea. Now, how more ay a regular subscriber.” And ¢ to arrange to pay you in installm when the treat begins to work. At present Iam a trifle short of ready cash Please remember that we are making continuous progress We are always right up-to-date. No husband can afford to do without us. Even if you think you are happy better join and be on the safe side. You will need us some d. Here is a list of some of our latest additions to ailments that we cure: Wife who insists upon running your motor car. Wife who reads short stories aloud from the magazines Wife who entertains celebrities Wife who, when she has a dispute with a servant, expects to have you stand up for her, alth the servant Wife who makes knitted silk cravats. Wife who reads papers before Wife who will spend $250 on a gown, but is too tir have made to order a pair of corsets to fit her, because they are too expensive. Wife who has chronic house-decorating fever Address. Huspanps’ Corxesronvence Bureav gh you secretly agree with woman's club. latErte| i CABBAGE REGULAR 15 DINNER 25 Fanatic RANROR TMF BUTTERFLY AND THE GRU