Life, 1911-12-07 · page 74 of 112
Life — December 7, 1911 — page 74: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This story satirizes wealthy industrialists ("trust magnates") and the emptiness of material excess. The husband and wife are a prosperous couple receiving countless expensive gifts (bronze inkstands, pearl necklaces, diamond links) yet finding no joy in them. The man complains the gifts are "rather loud" and impractical; they both suffer digestive problems from rich living. The satire's point emerges in "A Lucid Interval" (the cartoon caption)—a moment of clarity where the husband reminisces about their impoverished early years together, which brought genuine happiness: a cold sleigh ride under stars, simple romance. The title "Another Fraud Discovered" suggests wealth itself is the fraud—promising fulfillment but delivering only burdensome possessions and physical ailments. This reflects Progressive Era critiques of Gilded Age excess and the moral bankruptcy of unchecked capitalism, common themes in Life magazine's satirical commentary.
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The Big Christmas HE trust magnate was break fast- ing sitting opposite his handsome, haughty-looking wife. The room was done in old oak and tapestry, and in the great fireplace a log of genuine Yule was burning. He was iron gray, thin, tired look- ing, with an occasional attractive twinkle in his eye. She was inclined to be stout; her hair was snow white, elaborately dressed. A shadowy sweet- ness lingered in the corners of her mouth, suggesting the ghosts of youth- ful dimples. She toyed with an iced orange and an egg on toast. He had a bowl of shredded something with fruit juice, which he ate with a spoon, as though he hated it. A table at one side of the room was piled high with still un- opened packages that had come to these two fortunate persons as greet- ing for the holiday. The bell rang fre- quently and a man came in carrying another box, which he placed with the others, “ Another bronze inkstand came last night,” chuckled the magnate; “that makes eighteen!” His wife smiled faintly at him across the table. “Thank you for the La Vallicre, she said; “I’ve always wanted one of those pear-shaped pearls.” They told me pink pearls were the very newest,” he said. “Glad you liked it.” “ How are the diamond links? asked. A LUCID INTERVAL “Rather loud for my beauty,” he replied, “You will insist on buying my clothes, Mary, in spite of years of protest. I couldn't wear those links, except to a prize fight. I suppose they'll change them—yes?” She was thinking, her check resti on her hand, “Do you remember one Christmas Day—so many years ago,” she ques- tioned him, “when we were so poor we had no dinner?” “Clearly. And now we have no di- gestions,” he remarked. “And one Christmas when you were so ill and we were in a hotel and so uncomfortable? He nodded cheerfully. “You are forgetting the Big Christ- mas,” he remarked. “We've had so many of them to- gether,” she said, “it makes me feel quite old and a little bit sad.” “Think back,” he said, “to one Christmas night that we were together in a sleigh on the old mill read. There were stars in the sky and it was cold. You were snuggling close to me——" “Why Harry, we weren't engaged then.” “You were one of those snuggle- some girls, Mary. I repeat, you were crowding me some, but I didn't mind it. You wore a red knitted hood tied CHRISTMAS MORNING ANOTHER FRAUD DISCOVERED , comicbooks.com