Life, 1911-01-05 · page 16 of 104
Life — January 5, 1911 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page mocks the women's suffrage movement through "Life's Suffragette Contest"—a satirical feature listing absurd reasons why men shouldn't marry suffragettes. The humor relies on alliterative alphabet wordplay ("Antagonizing All Admirable Ambition," "Belying Beauty By Belauding Boldness," etc.). The accompanying poem by Greta Alexander presents anti-suffrage arguments: if women voted, husbands and wives would quarrel over elections, causing jealousy, divorce, and family destruction. One section shows a woman at a meeting, lonely at home while neglecting domestic duties. The cartoon labeled "A Terrible Waste of Food" (bottom left) appears to criticize suffragettes for abandoning household responsibilities. This content reflects early 20th-century opposition to women's voting rights, portraying suffragettes as threats to marriage, family stability, and traditional gender roles. The satire assumes readers share these anti-feminist views—today it reads as period documentation of sexist arguments used against women's equality.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
That we were one in heart and soul, With happiness to be our goal. 1 want a home, not just four walls. Where joy or comfort never calls. A place where LOVE makes LIFE worth while, A place where heaven is in a smile. Ah! that I know. “Tf women voted, seems to me, ] They and their men could not agree, | And family life would be knocked out With every new election bout. For then the woman candidate Would stir up jealousy and hate Among her sex if she but tried To win the husbands to her side. And vice versa with the men, Wholesale divorce would end it then I—guess—I—know: | It’s nixxy, none in mine.” Greta ALEXANDER. XXXII “ Life's" Suffragette Contest A man should not marry a suffra- gette because thereby he would be: Antagonizing All Admirable Ambition. Belying Beauty By Belauding Boldness. Choosing Cantankerous Companion- ship. Deliberately Decreeing Domestic Doom. Eulogizing Enervating Effeminacy. Forgetting Feminine Fragility. Giving Gentleness Good-by. Helping Hermaphrodite Hysteria. Inspiring Iniquitous Ineptitude, Jaundicing Juvenile Joy. Killing Kindly Kinship. Losing Lire’s Love. Making Marriage Mockery. Neglecting Nature’s Necessities. Offering Ominous Opportunities. Playing Parasite’s Part. Quashing Queenly Qualities. Recklessly Revolutionizing Race. Shattering Sex Sensitiveness. What about a Garage for your Automobile? CORNELL GARAGES are factory made out of best quality seasoned lumber, watertight, weathertight and substantial in every respect. They are Portable in that they may be shipped ‘‘knocked down,’’ with sections crated, ready for erection on your premises in a little while, with little effort, and at a minimum of expense. CORNELL GARAGES are Sectional: built up of Sectional Units. The sections are so rtade that they may be added to or taken away from‘at any time, thereby making your building larger or smaller in accordance with your own desires. | CORNELL COTTAGES, CHURCHES, SCHOOL HOUSES and Portable Buildings of every kind are all built in the same manner, and hundreds of satisfied users attest their merit and practicability. CORNELL PORTABLE BUILDINGS are Reasonable in Price. They cannot be duplicated at the prices we name. We PREPAY FREIGHT to nearly all R. R. stations. All our buildings are PAINTED INSIDE AND OUT, colors of your selec- tion, without additional cost. Our illustrated Catalog tells more. Write for it today. See Our Exhibit at the Madison Square Garden Automobile Show, New York, Jan'y 7th to 14th. WYCKOFF LUMBER & MFG. CO., - 425 Green St. Ithaca, N.Y. Life’s Suffragette Contest (Continued from page 14) “And Mrs. B—— smiles sweet and slow, And says: ‘I'm glad to have Em go To these great meetings where they see What's best for every family Except their own; and civic laws Are tangled up with every cause, But I do get so lonely here— I'm glad you came, sit down, my dear.’ So, I don’t know— (Concluded on page 22) CORDIAL FRONSAC OLD MILD MELLOW RICH At All Best Clubs and Hotels COWIE & CO., itd. NEW YORK Sole Agents forthe U.S. “T want a wife, I do, indeed, “4 TERRIBLE WASTE OF FOOD.” Provided it could be agreed 16 comicbooks.com