Life, 1910-06-30 · page 16 of 41
Life — June 30, 1910 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Life magazine page contains satirical pieces mocking domestic life and American pretensions: **"The Undertaker Smiles"** (cartoon): Shows a figure posting a notice—likely evicting or removing a cook from employment. The satire targets the casual cruelty of firing domestic servants, with the "undertaker" metaphor suggesting the cook's social death. **"A Declaration of Independence"** (text): Parodies the actual Declaration of Independence, but instead of colonial grievances, it comically lists reasons for firing one's cook. The satire mocks both household servants' incompetence and employers' dramatic self-justification for firing them. The reference to "Lares and Penates" (Roman household gods) adds mock-heroic pomposity. **"Just the Right Size"** (joke): A couple considers taking their rented apartment with them on vacation rather than buy luggage—mocking either poverty or absurd practicality. The "Grandmother Duck" response satirizes nostalgia for simpler times. The page satirizes class relations, domestic help, and American life's petty concerns. The tone assumes readers recognize themselves in these portraits of household management anxiety.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1184 good thing that everecame out of an American Customs House. Oliver Wendell Holmes. Doctor Holmes, our second professional humor- ist, did not have the advantage of the* Sunday papers to write for, and had to depend upon Harvard class dinners. He possessed a light and agreeable pen. We now come to the period of the Civil War and The Ni Era. James Russell Lowell at one time was the chief literary light of America His books are still sold at auction. We now come to The Present Day. What tendencies are discernible in our Literature (if any)? We can only say that we be- lieve firmly in its future. Typewriters are constantly improving Carbon paper is better than ever. Stenographers are getting so they can spell words of more than one syllable. Authors are welcome in every depart- ment store. And as long as our supply of paper lasts, why shculd we despair? Nothing would please us better than to give a detailed description of the writers of the present age, but our space is limited. We therefore refer the reader to any city directory, QUESTIONS FoR THE stUDENT. What is the difference between ature and Horse Racing (if any)? What is Renaissance? Describe various kinds of Renais- sances. What part of Boston is the United States? How much of the New England Con- science is left? Locate it (if possible). Where are we now at? Thomas L. Masson Just the Right Size “JACK dear, mamma has invited us to J spend your vacation with her, and you know we haven't a trunk,” “We might ask our landlord to let us take this flat with us."” Grandmother Duck: scaxpatous! 1N MY DAY CHILDREN OF THAT AGE WERE AT NOME IN THE NEST. THE UNDERTAKER SMILES A Declaration of Independence HEN in the course of human events it becomes necessary to dissolve the domestic bands which have connected a particular cook with the culinary de- partment and to assume within the household that blessed condition of peace, quictude and self-government to which the laws of the Lares and Penates en- title us, a decent respect for the opinions of the neighbors and of the employment agencies with which we do business re- quires us to declare the causes which lead us to such a rash step. We hold these truths to be self. dent: that all cooks are created un- equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain bizarre and intol- erable faults incompatible with life, lib- erty and the pursuit of happiness; that vie to rid them of these faults is a task exceeded in oncrousness only by the task of doing one’s own work, and that when the conviction is once firmly established that a particular cook is no better than the many who have preceded her, it is the bounden duty, sacred right and in- alienable privilege of the householder to abolish her and to struggle along some- how until another one turns up. Ellis O. Jones. Mr. Taft, not long ago introduced Mrs. Taft ‘ag “the real President of the United States,” and his new secretary is being now referred to as “the assistant President.” Where does Mr. Taft come in?—Springfeld Republican. As ball: maybe. ATE! STOCK covers a multi- tude of sins. comicbooks.com