Life, 1911-02-02 · page 27 of 52
Life — February 2, 1911 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes wealthy heiresses and fortune-hunting suitors. The illustration shows a well-dressed man addressing three elaborately-gowned women, with money bags labeled with large sums (240,000, 180,000, 200,000) displayed above them. The text is a parody of the children's counting rhyme "Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe," rewritten to mock the matrimonial market: the man should "catch an heiress with the dough" but release her "if she's stingy." This reflects early 20th-century social anxieties about wealth-driven marriages and the commercialization of courtship among the upper classes. The numbered purses suggest women are being evaluated primarily by their financial worth rather than personal qualities—a pointed satire of Gilded Age marriage customs.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
E . LI i er, “atk SSS Eeney, Meeney, Miney, Mo, i Catch an Heiress with the Dough, he’s Stingy Let Her Go. sy Money, Miney Mo. 3] comicbooks.com