Life, 1910-07-14 · page 33 of 40
Life — July 14, 1910 — page 33: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page features a satirical article about **Mrs. Josephine Daskam Bacon**, a writer, presented as a humorous contrast to her public image. The joke centers on the irony of her claiming she doesn't take vacations because she's a "working class" person—yet the narrative reveals she's actually quite privileged, managing a country estate (dairy, garden, pigs, strawberries) while maintaining literary output. When Life's editor calls asking about her vacation plans, she defensively insists working people don't vacation, then casually mentions possibly taking a trolley trip to New York to see her *publisher*—revealing her actual leisure and status. The satire mocks both her pretense of being a laborer and the gap between her self-presentation and reality. The article's title, "The Literary Zoo," suggests she's being treated as a specimen for examination—a common Life magazine format for poking fun at celebrities' contradictions and pretenses. The surrounding advertisements (Velox paper, Pears' soap, various sanatoriums) are period commercial content, typical of early 20th-century magazines.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
niicate fe and nidicate rassing, sildren day, to for the On, got ard the 1 the ther There’s nothing too good for your negatives. That’s why you should insist on the use of VELOX by those who finish your pictures. It’s the highest quality paper they can buy—the paper that will give the best possible print from every negative. And further, the man who uses a high class, high price paper is the man most likely to employ skillful help and good chemicals— the man most likely to do good developing as well as good printing. If sou do your own printing, ask us or your dealer for a copy of the Velox Book. NEPERA DIVISION, EASTMAN KODAK CO., Rochester, N. Y. sf) CULTURE ts he = z nike Big Mocey oa Litve Capta, One acre Is worth @25,000, and yields Revenue thaa 3 aco.acre farm with much ; mr ahow yoo areal us tn ¥i05, and ive ia Exe and Contort, WHITE, NOW. UTTON, 777 Sherwood Ave., Louisville, Ky. Sanatorium Reger private Hextisation Stal Conde +4 i Sndacted by 8 pb oe. “Eatabilebed 32 ye ° Z aw. Not of the Leisure Class The summer breezes blow about Beech Hill, but no primroses line the path that leads from Pleasantville Sta- tion to the abode of Mrs. Josephine Daskam Bacon. “Hello! Six-eight Briarcliff. Is Mrs. Bacon at home? Hello, Central. ht Briarcliff alzvays busy?” but Mrs. Bacon “Another anonymous novel?” “TIL see. No, Mrs. Bacon is out in the dairy, or in the garden. Wait a moment, and I'll call up the stable. Mrs. Bacon said she was going out to take a look at the pigs, but she had to sit up all night with the straw- berries, and really she gets very little sleep, but perhaps she is up in the nur- sery—just wait a moment, please, and I'll see.” “Yes, this is Mrs, Bacon.” “Mrs. Bacon, Lire would like to know where you intend to spend your vacation.” “Tt is very thoughtful of Lire. But do the working classes really take va- cations? I'm not a clergyman, or a school teacher, or a clerk, you know.” “Still, we thought, as this is July, and— “July, did you say? Why, so it is. Now that you speak of it, some of our neighbors made a great noise—it must have been the Fourth. But, you know, when one is busy with two pro- fessions and a house and garde horses and cows and pigs appears very like another. good of you, though. Yes, when the corn is laid by I may take a trolley trip to New York to sce my publisher. One must relax sometimes, I suppose. It really does one good. Good-by!” The Real William Allen White Did you ever form a mental picture of some celebrity you had never met, and then come up with a rude shock (Continued on page 82) For the Scientific ang Effective ‘Treatment of Cancer Wythout Resorting to Sere! Fer complite intormanon oudrest BERKSHIRE HiLts, SANATORIUM ‘North Adame, Massachusetts “Good Morning. Have You Used Especially after Exercise, it makes a bath of delight —it is exhilarating, healthy, satisfying and ‘‘ matchless for the complexion.” It is the most exquisite of all soaps for the skin, being not only the best known cleansing agent, but a Soap which also possesses the exact emollient proper- ties necessary for the main- taining of the skin in the condition of perfect health and functional activity.