Life, 1911-12-28 · page 32 of 41
Life — December 28, 1911 — page 32: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains reader letters and commentary rather than political cartoons. The content reflects early 1910s debates: **"The Suffragette to Life"** is a poem from a suffrage advocate responding to Life's mockery of women's suffrage activists. The writer protests that Life ridicules suffragists' appearances (describing them as having poor fashion sense, bad hair, and unattractive figures) rather than engaging with their arguments. She requests Life depict suffragists as "cream and coral," fashionable and feminine, to enable respectful dialogue. **"For a Wider Sphere"** argues that suffragists are "clean-looking, sensible women" while anti-suffragists are "back numbers" confined to homes. The writer suggests women's citizenship extends beyond domestic walls to the state and nation. These letters reveal Life magazine's anti-suffrage stance and its use of personal ridicule—particularly about women's appearance and fashion—to delegitimize voting rights activism, a common tactic opponents of women's suffrage employed before the 19th Amendment (1920).
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
gL a We Are Constantly in Receipt of Important Letters Which Are Too Long for Our Limited Space. Brevity is Absolutely Essential to Publication Tales of a Traveler Epitor oF Lire: No. 1 (or any other number). Place, Connecticut, N. Y., N. H. & H. R. R.; time, any holiday, before or after; scene, any train except Boston expresses; seats filled; standecs, men, women and children—all wobbling. Mel- lenaid: A kindergarten course in fore- sight for all executives. No. 2. Place, Connecticut, N. Y., N. H. & H. R. R.; time, Sunday evening, December 3, A. D. 1911; twenty standees in one car; numerous standees in most of the other cars; a few vacant seats in for- ward car; passenger refuses to give ticket unless provided with seat. Con- ductor returns — facetiously — “ Come along, give you cight seats forward.” No vestibules, no assistance in going forward, no notice given of any seats vacant until after protest by one pas- senger. Mellenaid: Put in poles with straps for the aged and infirm. No. 3. Place, Connecticut, Litchfield or Fair- field counties. Dramatis personz: Bride and groom; destination, New York or the Berkshires. Problem, to get there. Mellenaid: Take the Harlem or go afoot. Oxr or Maxy. The Suffragette to Life Dear Live: Tell me in your scornful numbers Suffrage is an empty dream, That my ilk the sex encumbers And my tactics are a scream. Of your scorn I'm not complaining, With your mirth I'm not at strife, Nay, I quite rejoice in gaining Any notice from you, Lirr. Quite rejoice that you're devoting Valued spaces to my chaff, That my foolish zeal for voting Makes one ripple of your laugh; But the thing that desolates me, Pains, disgusts and disappoints,— Is the way you scandalize me As to Coiffure, Jaw and Joints. Lire,—my preachments may be acid, My arraignments coldly stern, Bat it follows not my facade Must be Gothic, sallow, stern ;— That my figure must be spindling, Buil: to slip through any hug, And my locks, unratted, dwindling— Whipped into a hasty pug— Paint me sometime cream and ‘coral, Gowned with tailored snap and grace, Or with shoulders—not too moral— Gleaming from a foam of lace. Dip your brush in colors mellow, And for New Year's gift design Something,—something not too yellow— Something potent—feminine. Thus we may enjoy each other :— I'll not rant, if you'll not jeer, Visit me with kindness, Brother— Two and fifty times a year. San Francisco, M. M. For a Wider Sphere Dear Lire: I have read your valuable magazine for years, because you stand for anti- vaccination, anti-vivizection, anti-frivol- ous fashions, anti-simply society, etc., but why you stand for anti-woman suf- frage passes my understanding, except that you exemplify the adage, “A man cannot be liberal in all thing: Attend a suffrage debate at your first opportunity and, without knowing the speakers, you will be able to tell at a glance which side each will take. The suffragist is a good, clean-looking, sen- sible woman—up to date in her ideas, and the anti is decidedly a back number —just what any woman becomes who spends her whole life within four walls, and just the kind that so many progres- TIE COMMERCIAL SIDE OP AVIATION sive husbands are perfectly willing to leave there while he sceks the chorus girl for diversion. Home, in its fullest sense, is not re- stricted to four walls, but it includes the city, the State, the country; and woman's mission is not only to prepare the baby for the bome, but to help the husband prepare the country for the baby, which she can do without losing her grace and dignity. Very cordially yours, (Mrs.) Etrsaneru C. Oprennens. Newarx, , December 8, 1911. comicbooks -com