Life, 1911-06-29 · page 33 of 45
Life — June 29, 1911 — page 33: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page features a satirical poem by Irving Bacheller about American consumer culture and debt. The narrative warns against "Snobbish Emulation"—the social pressure to match neighbors' spending. The story follows a town where a wealthy girl named Lizzie returns from boarding school with extravagant tastes: a touring car, parquet floors, foreign travel. Her conspicuous consumption triggers a cascade of competitive spending among townspeople who mortgage their homes to keep pace. When her father, a coffee merchant, raises prices to fund her lifestyle, the rising cost of living spirals, ultimately forcing Lizzie to learn restraint and redirect her energy toward "household labors." The satire targets early 20th-century American materialism—the cultural obsession with status symbols and the financial ruin that results from trying to match wealthier neighbors' consumption. The poem suggests that unchecked desire for luxury and social standing creates economic harm for entire communities.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ure, and ns, ve, gle at; ole. gle, TBS ll! Opers, Pats; 48 Roe eo ritain apply 10We that you t. ARE YOU GOING TO MOVE? If you are, or if you have done so recently, don't forget to notify LIFE, of your changed address, The Post-Office will not forward @ periodical as it will a letter. Therefore each week's delay means a copy of LIFE lost. Dost wait on you ha ores before me otify us. en ordering a change give tld as well as the new address, Notice must reach us by Thursday to affect the following week's issue. Subscription Department LUFE 17 West Thirty-first Street, New York Rhymed Reviews Keeping Up with Lizzie Harper & (By Irving Bacheller. Brothers) This here's a Parable, a Tract To teach a wasteful, spendthrift Na- tion That Want and all our woes, in fact, Are due to Snobbish Emulation It paints a town where every man And family grew fairly dizzy With wild extravagance, and ran In debt, through Keeping Up With Lizzie. For Lizzie’d been to boardin’ school (At twenty thousand cents per quar- ter), Where how to spend, an’ how to fool Her time away was all they taught her She came back home a blazin’ star, An’ kep’ her pa a-scratchin’ gravel; She had to have her tourin’ car, Her parquet floors, her forcign travel. Then everybody bought machines By mortgagin’ their homes to get ‘em, An’ splurged an’ lived beyond their meahs To hold the pace that Lizzie set ’em. Now Lizzie’s pa, he kep’ a store For sellin’ coffee, tea an’ spices; A Happy Marriage Denends largely on aknowl- edge of the whole truth about self and sex and their relation to Life and healtb. This knowledge doex not come intelligently of itself, nor correctly from ordinary every-day sources, SEXOLOGY a (Ullustratea) Wiliam Hy Walling, A.Mu, MDu imparts in a clear, ‘holetome way ‘in one volume ic Man Should Hove. BT jould Have, Shi Impnrt to Fis Son. Husband Should Have. Krowicise a drother Shantd Tmporé to Fer Daughter, Medicat Knowledge a Wife Should Have. * All tn volume. IMustrated, $2, postpaid. ¥ ‘Other People’s Opinions” and Table of Contents. Puritan Pub. Co., 776 Perry Bldg., Phila., Pa. Built for those who use the Best Series “B” now ready for delivery @ Maximum power is derived only from a motor that runs with the regularity of a watch tick and gets full efficiency out of every explosion; durability depends on fundamental prin- ciples of correct construction, conscientiously carried out with best materials; silence means minimized wear. Q The public knows that power (and speed), durability, com- fort and silence are the chief qualities of Matheson efficiency. q The Matheson “ Big Four,” which has been a consistent winner of first honors for five years past, is recommended to those preferring a luxurious, poweriul, seven-passenger car of four-cylinder, chain-driven type. Prices—Silent Sixes, $3,500 to $4,000 ; Big Fours, $4,000 Our catalogue and “The Secret of Silence" mailed on request. Applications of established dealers considered for open territory. MATHESON AUTOMOBILE CO., Wilkes-Barré, Penna. NEW YORK CITY BRANCH, COR. BROADWAY AND S2d STREET DISTRIBUTORS San Francisco, Math Chicago, Bird-Syk Boston, Roy A. Fa: +2210 Michigan Ave, 823 Boylston St. And, as he found he needed more When Lizzie learned how matters lay— For Lizzie’s fads, he boosted prices. That Ruin threatened friends and neighbors, Then everybody took ihe cue, The cost of livin’ upward sending With bills that grew an’ grew an’ grew To squeeze the cash for reckless spending. She led a march the other way; She turned from Waste to household every man an’ wife an’ girl in town are busy But folks can’t flourish overlong By merely bleeding one another, So Credit soon was far from strong; The loads of debt began to smother. 1265 Developin’ the Simple Life By way of Keeping Up With Lizzie. Arthur Guiterman, comicbooks.com