Life, 1909-07-15 · page 12 of 28
Life — July 15, 1909 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes a summer camp for husbands organized by Life magazine, apparently near Niagara Falls. The text describes how the magazine opened this facility to provide husbands an escape where they could exchange ideas and enjoy "mutual feeling of comradeship and sympathy." The cartoons mock the concept: "In the Ark" shows a man seasick in a boat (captioned with a joke about a camel's poor digestion), while "Extortion" depicts a hobo literally suspending a trapped businessman from above, demanding money—suggesting that even at this supposedly relaxing retreat, husbands face exploitation and discomfort. The accompanying letters express mock gratitude and complaints, satirizing the gap between the camp's promised benefits and its actual miserable reality.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Our Husbands’ Correspondence Bureau W owe our customers—now numbering thousands in all parts of the country—a humble apology, and we hasten to make it as public as possible. It is inevitable that occasionally some Japses must occur in every business, no matter how well conducted. We are no exception. The mistake on our part was duc to the precipitate action of one of our chief clerks, an unmarried man himself, and fully able to understand the feelings that many husbands have. . We have been getting telegrams all day long for several d. now. This is a general answer and an explanation. his year, as all the world knows, we had planned a sum- mer camp for husbands, the idea being to provide an outing place for all of our customers, where ideas could be exchanged and a sort of mutual fecling of comradeship and sympathy be establiched amorg our clients. The railroads offered us exceptional rates. A car load of poker chips has been ordered, and other necessary ingredients, including the contents of a brewery and a summer sextette of golden-haired beauties fresh from Broad: We left the selection of a site for this camp, as we have already intimated, to one of our clerks. He happened to get the wrong place—that is all. In securing a site right next to Niagara Falls he didn’t realize what he was doing. The announcement was sent out before we were aware of it. Of course there is no husband on our books who wants to camp out in the vicinity of Niagara Falls. They have most of them been there before. It awakens memories. The following letter is a sample of many received : Dear Sirs: Tam in receipt of your circular announcing that you have opened camp for your customers at Niagara Falls. Please allow EXTORTION Santos Highfly (the hobo): ’scuse ME, BOSS, BUT A LIFT FROM ABOVE WILL COST YOU A TIVER, YOU CAN GET ONE FROM BELOW FOR NOTHING! me to congratulate you on your consummate nerve, and at the same time close my account with you at once. I must admit, of course, that I have improved under your care, and I am greatly surp: in view of the grand work that you have been doing. should try to play such a cheap joke on every one of Falls! Not for met n there before, thank you, in the sprin, of '87.” Also once again, fall of ’93. It’s the wretched bao taste of your announcenient that I also object to. When I go off to have a good time, and exchange feelings with other husbands, T want to get abowt as from the honeymoon idea a I want to cut that out at least. my dear sirs, that sum: of yours would be only a perpetual reminder of what mouse-colored asses we had all made of ourselves. Please remit the balance due me, and never let me hear from you again. a INC THE (ARK To this gentleman, and to all others, we wish again to f POOR CAMEL DOES SUFFER TERRIBLY WITH SEASICK- present our humble apologies. We wouldn't have made such Nuss a break for the world “WHY Nor WITH MIS FOUR STOMACHS? We have already moved the camp to a special roof-garden, comicbooks.com