Life, 1910-05-05 · page 48 of 72
Life — May 5, 1910 — page 48: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains satirical humor pieces typical of early 20th-century Life magazine, plus period advertising. **The Poetry & Jokes:** "The Laundry of Life" uses extended metaphor comparing life's hardships to laundry—fading colors, torn fabric, lost buttons, tangling with others. The accompanying jokes mock domestic relations: a husband relieved when called a "liar, thief, and scoundrel" rather than "stupid"; a wife seeking suffrage (voting rights) mainly to escape her husband's conversation; a doctor who uses fishing scales to weigh a newborn, finding it implausibly heavy at 37½ pounds. **Social Context:** The suffragette joke reflects contemporary debates over women's voting rights. The domestic humor reflects traditional gender dynamics and marital tension as comedy fodder. **The Advertisement:** The lower half promotes Brewster & Co.'s automobile bodies and Delaunay-Belleville chassis—luxury car customization services for wealthy buyers. The detailed technical language and illustrations target affluent readers. The page mixes lightweight domestic satire with upscale consumer marketing, typical of Life's educated, middle-to-upper-class audience.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Laundry of Life y, Life is a laundry in which we Are ironed out, or soon, or late. Who has not known the irony Of fate? We enter it when we are born, Our colors bright. Full soon they fade. We exit “done up,” old and worn, And frayed; Frayed round the edges, worn and thin— Life is a rough old linen slinger. Who has not lost a button in Life's wringer? With other linen we are tubbed, With other linen often tangle: In open court we then are scrubbed, And_ mangled. Some take a gloss of happiness The hardest wear cannot dimin Others, alas! get a “domes- Tic finis —Bert Leston Taylor in The House Beautiful. A SAFETY RAISER Anything But That “You're a liar, and a thief, and a scoundrel! '’ “ Anything else? ’* “T can't think of anything else right now. “Thanks. I was afraid you were go- ing to say I was stupid."’—Birmingham Age-Herald. “So your wife is a suffragette? "* “Yes,"’ answered Mr. Meekton. “Why does she want to vote?" “IT don't think Henrietta really desires to vote. She’s merely tired of talking to me. She wants a larger and more intelligent audience."’—Washington Star. The Fishy Doctor and the Babe! The old physician is an enthusiastic angler in every sense of the term, While on his way home from a fishing trip he received an emergency call. The proud newly made father was impatient to have the child weighed, but couldn’t find the steelyards; so the physician had to use the pocket scales with which he weighed his fish, Great Scott, doctor!” exclaimed the father as he saw the pointer go up. “Thirty-seven and a half pounds! ""— Everybody's. : Tire is pablished every Thursday, simoltancously in the United States, Great ntain, Camda and Dailding, Chancery Lane, London, E. C., England, Acexts, Hrentaiu's, 37 Ave. del Opera, Paris? British Possessions, $5.00a year in advance. Additional postage to foreign countries in the Postal also at Saarbacli’s News Exchanges, 16 Jobn delphi Strand, W.C., London; 9, Rue St. Georges, Hon. $1.04 a years to Canac ia, S2cents. Single current copies, 10 cents, Back numbers, after three Par} ia Firenze, Bilan; Mayence, Germany. does not hold itielf responsible for the ess or nonmreturn of unsolicited contributions, to Live, 1H Southampton Row. London, | Lire is for sale by all Newsdealers in Great Britain, ‘The Inte jews Company, Breams ication should be sent by si BREWSTER & CO. Broadway and A] 4th. Street, New York Delaunay-Belleville Licensed under Selden Patent ibers of any change of address ecial bodies for any Chassis. epairs to body or motor. Peerless Cars with our exclusive Coach work by special arrange- ment with the Peerless Motor Car Co. Mlustrations show a new design Brewster body on Delaunay-Belleville Chassis, open and closed. comicbooks.com