Life, 1911-04-06 · page 31 of 76
Life — April 6, 1911 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
## "The Mormons" This article mocks the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' historical practice of polygamy. The satire presents polygamy as logistically absurd rather than morally outrageous—a man can't remember which home to return to, where his dress suit is, or which cook deserted him. The text sarcastically suggests Mormons "need all the religion" to survive the chaos they've created. The illustration shows elaborately dressed figures, likely depicting multiple wives. The satire is characteristic of early 20th-century anti-Mormon sentiment, framing the practice as ridiculous inconvenience rather than engaging serious theological or ethical arguments. ## "Her Maiden Vote" This cartoon satirizes women's newly won voting rights (appears to reference early suffrage era). A woman admits a gentleman "with a beautiful moustache and yellow spats" marked her ballot for her, suggesting female voters could be easily manipulated by male charm rather than voting independently. The satire implies women aren't yet ready for civic responsibility. ## "Out of Place" A brief joke about jarring word choice in fiction—the friend objects to calling a dog a "man."
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
TIMES AND CUSTOMS MAY CHANGE, BUT GIRLS WILL BE GIRLS The Mormons HERE is a magazine movement on hand to muck- rake the Mormons, to the end that they may be disciplined off the face of the earth. The Mormons are apparently doing from a re- ligious standpoint what other men do on the quiet. At the same time it must be admitted that making a religion of getting married is probably carrying the thing too far. It is far better to keep your religion separate from your marrying capacity. You can then get married as often as you please, and aside from the slight difficulty of having to pay alimony, you stand in no danger of losing your soul. Even matters of alimony can usually be adjusted to a minimum, In these days, bigamy is not only unnecessary, but stupid. To start out deliberately to marry as many women as you can, without going through the slight formality of getting rid of the last one, is an asinine performance. The Mormon has troubles of his own. Why disturb him in the enjoyment of them? He never knows where he is going to lay his head. Just as he gets a cosy corner fixed up in one room, with his desk pad and all his papers arranged to suit » he hears that number three in the next block is beginning to show signs of homesickness and he has to leave his temporary home and go and comfert her loneliness. If he has a literary temperament, he has to live in a dress-suit case and a traveling inkstand. And his movements being so uncertain, nobody will lend him books. The life of the Mormon is by no means easy. Where one man may have to listen to the harrowing tale of the deser- tion of the last cook, he may, in the course of a week, have 675 to listen to a dozen. Then again, a Mormon never knows where his dress suit Every time he is invited out to dinner, or to a ball, he has to run over the list and try and remember where he left it last. And after the dinner is over, think of the trouble the Mormon has in going home! Under these harrowing circum- stances it is often hard enough to find ‘one home, but how is any man going to remember a dozen or more? The Mormon is constantly going through all of the discomforts of travel, without any of the broadening influ- ences. No-wonder, under these trying circumstances, the Mormon needs all the religion he can lay his hands upon. An Open Countenance NYWAY, he has an honest face.” “Honest? You surprise me.” “Yes, it’s the only honest thing about It shows how dishonest he really HER MAIDEN VOTE ID YOU CAST YOUR VOTE, AUNTY?" “om, yes! ISN'T IT GRAND? A REAL NICE GENTLEMAN WITH A BEAUTIFUL MOUSTACHE AND YELLOW SPATS MARKED MY BALLOT FOR ME, 1 KNOW I SHOULD MAVE MARKED IT MYSELF, BUT 1T SFEMED TO PLEASE HIM GREATLY.” Out of Place ID you find any fault?” asked the author of the Render. “Only one,” replied the friend, who had been ex- amining the work. “In the last part of your tale you say: ‘The man whistled, and the dog ran to him eagerly, wagging her tail. Then the man stooped, picked up the animal, put ker on the operating table and strapped her down securely. The dog looked at the man beseechingly—the man com- menced to work.’ “ But what is there wrong with that?” “The word ‘Man,’” replied the friend. comicbooks.com