Life, 1911-12-07 · page 44 of 112
Life — December 7, 1911 — page 44: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This 1912 Life magazine piece satirizes the marriage market as literal commerce. The article mockingly treats eligible young women as merchandise—"the new 1912 crop" entering an oversupplied market where supply "greatly exceeds demand." The satire's targets include: - **Debutantes as commodities**: Young women are "exposed to cut-rate competition" and risk becoming "a drug on an already over-stocked market" - **Economic anxiety**: Rising living costs make wives "a luxury" men can't afford - **Mercenary matchmaking**: Parents (especially "fat, middle-aged dowagers") are advised to accept "the first genuine offer, even if love has to be taken in part payment" - **Social hypocrisy**: The piece exposes how marriage, supposedly romantic, functioned as naked economic transaction The companion poem "Forebodings" shifts to holiday gift-giving anxieties—unwanted items requiring false gratitude ("I simply love that tidy!")—offering gentle social satire contrasting with the Marriage Mart's sharper critique of women's commodification.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
MAKING THE FIRST CHRISTMAS PRESENT The Marriage Mart HE débutante season will soon be upon us, and the new 1912 crop will be in the market. Prospects point to a dull season, with a small volume of actual engagements. New arrivals will be exposed to the cut-rate competition of last year’s un- sold débutantes, while the Western grass widow crop is again reported unusually heavy, and will have to be reckoned with. Sooner or later, the trade must face the truth, that the marriageable supply xreatly exceeds demand. And while the extra fancy and choicer grades of selected buds will no doubt find eager bidders and quick buyers, yet the fair to middling sorts are likely to find themselves a drug on an already over- stocked market. The fact is, that the present high cost of living makes wives a luxury not to be indulged in by the average young man, while confirmed, eligible bachelors continue shy as ever. The tone of the market is decidedly panicky, and fat, middle-aged dowagers with slim merchantable daughters are advised not to hold them at exorbitant figures, but to accept the first genuine offer, even if love has to be taken in part payment. Forebodings Y Christmas Gifts! 1 now! But not in recollection. No; 'tis prophetic eyes, I vow. That make the sad inspection There'll be a lot of silver things, (Each sillier than the other ;) A motor hood with silken strings, (The kind that makes you smother » And boudoir shoes, all fleecy lined (No one could ever use 'em;) Hatpins,—by some weird art designe (I truly hope I'll lose em!) Burnt leather! Well, my brain just storms To think of bags and pillows! And baske Of twisted greenish willows in outrageous forms The Christmas novelty this year Is patterns done in cross stitch; I'll get so much of it, I fea I'll wish it were a lost kind,— Covers, receivers, cases; To hold such things as no sane mind Could dream of in such places. Receptacles of every Ah, well, I'd strive to be polite, And bear these dire inflictions, But thought of notes that I must write Rouses my maledictions. To say, for that old foolish stuff : “Just what I wanted, Lidie! “T cannot thank you half cnough!” “T simply love that tidy!” Well, now I have my mind outspoke, I'll turn to something pleasant; I'll finish that embroidered yoke For Jancy’s Christmas present & w. DESIGN FOR A COVER comicbookeort