Life, 1910-10-27 · page 16 of 44
Life — October 27, 1910 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This 1910s *Life* magazine page satirizes early 20th-century gender dynamics through multiple pieces: **Main article "Don't Let Your Wife Grow Selfish":** Uses ironic advice to critique controlling husbands. The author (bylined "Able Earner") sarcastically recommends husbands constantly burden wives with their problems, neglect them emotionally, and monopolize conversation—ostensibly to prevent female "selfishness." The joke exposes how husbands weaponize emotional labor and discourage wives' independence. The closing line—"If a wife be selfish, it is the husband's fault"—reverses blame back onto men. The accompanying illustration shows a woman with an exasperated expression. **Smaller items:** Include jokes about the "hobble skirt" (a restrictive fashion), a brief exchange between working-class men about wives taking cooking classes (implying anxiety about female education/autonomy), and unrelated humorous snippets. The satire targets Victorian-era marital dynamics where wives' interests and autonomy were actively suppressed in favor of men's needs.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Don’t Let Your Wife Grow Selfish BY ABLE EARNER F you are a married man—and the chances are that you cither are or will be (please don’t argue with me)— the thought may have come to you th: your wife is growing selfish, that she is given to thinking too much on her own affairs, that feminine interests occupy her mind to the exclusion of other things. This is narrowing for any woman, this concentration on self. And, ae THE HOBBLE SKIRT AND THE WIND though it may not have occurred to you, there is a way out, a way out for both of you. The simplest way is to unload your worries and troubles upon her, so that her own will dwindle to absolute zero. When you leave the house in the morn- ing dwell at length upon the difficulties that you are going to have to contend with in the course of the day, taking care to emphasize the great likelihood of failure in overcoming them. Find a bit of fault with the breakfast. This will make her think of you—not of herself— all morning. Do not kiss her good-by. Such things make women to brood upon their beauty and foster egoism, the handmaid of selfishness, During the day call her on the tele- phone as frequently as possible to tell her that things downtown are not going so well as they might be. This will make her think of you and not of herself or the adorning of her person. When you come home in the even- ing, launch at once into a history of your day’s experiences. Do not ask her what she’s been doing; don’t per- mit her to talk about herself. After dinner read her a few para- graphs from the sporting page of a newspaper. It will take her mind from hats and shocs and sealing-wax. If you can afford it, join a club and attend three or four times a week, remembering to remdin after the time you promised to come home. This, obviously, will keep her mind on you during most of your absence and give her no chance for introspection. If a wife be selfish, it is the hus- band’s fault. IRST COOK: Me missus is takin’ a course of instruction in the “on, 1 SAY! MY NEXT DANCE 18 WITH MISS HIPPO. I'M SURE SHE'LL STEP ON MY TAIL," culinary art. Seconp Coox: The next thing yez know she'll be askin’ lave to come in the kitchen. To the Skeleton of A Charmer ROTESQUE and gruesome thing, Strung on a squeaking string, Flashing at every fling Dreams that dismay ; Vanished to haunt the air, Face, form and flaming hair, All that proclaimed thee fair For a brief day. Still, Death has left to thee One feature womanly, Marking thee humanly Queen of creation. Well mayst thou grin and dance, Since his despoiling lance Spared thee by happy chance Articulation. P,P. Hornish. “T_J OW was the sermon?” “Remarkably well preserved— considering its age.” THE RIGHT MIDNIGHT NUMBER comicbooks.com Toi, WS Rewer CERES