Life, 1911-06-29 · page 27 of 45
Life — June 29, 1911 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**The Main Cartoon:** This depicts a social comedy about courtship rituals. Three young women (Penelope, Gladys, and Maude) discuss a suitor who has been "awfully nice" to each of them all summer, asking their permission to propose to their mother. The joke's twist: he's now proposing to the mother instead—likely because she's wealthier or of higher social status. The satire mocks the mercenary nature of Gilded Age romance and the absurdity of suitors pursuing mothers when daughters are available. **The Three Brief Articles Below** offer satirical commentary on contemporary topics: Arnold Bennett's literary preferences regarding elderly female characters; European anxieties that wealthy American tourists corrupt foreign dignitaries (the Bey of Tunis); and the Egyptian Khedive's obesity, blamed on aping English colonial excess—a dig at both imperialism and the corrupting influence of wealth.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Penelope: ¥ Gladys: aXb TO ME, TOO. Maude: No NICER THAN HE'S Penelope : Gladys: Wk ASKED ME THAT, TOO. The Ambiguous A.B. RNOLD BENNETT insists that old women make the most satisfac- tory characters in fiction, although he does not say whether he means to the author, who gets the royalties, or to the reader, who pays them. Or is he curry- ing favor with the women who want to vote? $ BEEN AWFULLY NICE TO ME ALL SUMMER. To ME. AND HE INQUIRED IF I MINDED IP HE ASKED MAMA. THEIR ATTRACTIVE MOTHER 1259 Maude: Tut's NO MORE THAN HE ASKED ME. Penelope: AND 1 SAID HE MIGHT. Gladys: axv 1s Maude: Xo onyEcTION FROM Mr. 1D SO, TOO, i ALL: And now he’s proposing to her. European Disease Called Americans HE Bey, who has never before le! Tunis, means to pay an_ offici visit to the French President in the near future. The Tunisians hate to let the Bey go to Paris, as they fear he will return vulgarized by contact with rich Americans. Oriental BBAS IL, Khedive of Egypt, is growing very fat, a circumstance the more noticeable because His High- i ness is so short. His physical condition ; makes him unpopular with his subjects, who see in it evidence that he apes the English, They were the first to fatten on the country. comicbooks.com