Life, 1911-04-06 · page 32 of 76
Life — April 6, 1911 — page 32: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains social satire typical of early 20th-century Life magazine. **Top cartoon**: A child points out a hole in her stocking, expressing eagerness to wear long dresses like her aunt—mocking the impracticality of long Victorian/Edwardian dresses that required constant mending while also satirizing children's desire to adopt adult fashion regardless of practicality. **"Dr. Aked Resigns"**: Reverend Dr. Charles Aked resigned from Rockefeller's Fifth Avenue Baptist Church over disagreements about building a larger structure. Life's commentary satirizes both Aked's ambitions and the unsuitability of grand churches in New York's modern urban landscape of "hotels, theatres, restaurants and flats"—arguing the city needs spiritual comfort, not spectacle. The reference to San Francisco's Abe Ruef scandal implies Aked seeks morally corrupted populations needing redemption. **"Song and Surgery"**: A brief humor piece playing on homophones: a singer wants "grand opera" while a surgeon wants "grand operation"—a simple pun on professional ambitions. **Bottom cartoon**: An absentminded guest realizes they've forgotten their "coiffure" (hairstyle/hairpiece)—likely satirizing elaborate Edwardian hairdressing conventions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
i f ] “ol, DEAR! THERE'S ANOTHER HOLE IN MY STOCKING. I'LL DE GLAD WHEN 1 CAN WEAR LONG DRESSES LIKE YOU, AUNTIE.” Dr. Aked Resigns R. AKED has resigned the pastorate of Mr. Rockefeller's Fifth Avenue Baptist Church because his trustees can- not see their way to build him a big church where he could preach to two thousand people. Maybe he is going to San Francisco, where Abe Ruef has finally been jailed and has left a large fragment of the population more or less corrupted on their spiritual side and very ripe for repentance and meet works under the direction of an energetic pastor. Fifth Avenue is no longer an inviting strect to put a big church on. We sympathize with the reluctance of Dr. Aked’s late trustees to build him such an edifice as he wanted there. Such churches are better suited to smaller cities where land is cheaper, and the population is not so widely scattered. New York is a city of hotels, theatres, restaurants and flats. It is somewhat short of homes and homeliness. It likes churches that provide that quality; churches that are permanent and reposeful and that give to the people who go to them a sense of not being either in a flat, a theatre or a street-car. Dr. Aked is not in sympathy with.this New York need for tranquillity. The paper says he is the son of an auctioncer and it is natural that he should aspire to shake things up. His vocation is to minister to the people of a city of homes and give them a change on Sundays. ROST: The sane Fourth caused him to fail in business. Sxow: Undertaker, doctor, or fireworks manufacturer? Song and Surgery SINGER and surgeon, I say, Betray a not distant relation, For one yearns for grand opera, And one for a grand operation. Absent-Minded Guest: “ GREAT HEAVENS, I'VE LEFT MY COIF- FURE AT HOME.” comicbooks.com