Life, 1912-01-18 · page 19 of 44
Life — January 18, 1912 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two satirical pieces from Life magazine (page 167). **Top cartoon** ("Punctilious Perkins"): A man remains seated while greeting a woman, claiming his coat tails are caught in a desk drawer as excuse for not rising—a violation of period etiquette. The humor relies on this transparent pretense of politeness masking laziness. **Bottom section** ("Medicine for Anti-Semitism"): The text praises Mary Antin's autobiographical Atlantic Monthly article about immigrating from Poland as a Jewish child. The author argues her education and eloquent writing demonstrate that Polish Jews are worthy of American assimilation. However, the passage contains a troubling undertone: it frames Jewish gratitude as valuable only if it remains passive and doesn't become "aggressive"—suggesting anxiety about immigrant political activism or assertiveness. **"Satisfied"**: A brief joke playing on the phrase "no rest for the wicked"—wickedness supposedly brings restlessness, but the response suggests some people prefer constant activity anyway.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Punctilious Perkins: MISS EUNICE, AS MY COAT TAILS ARE CAUGHT, YOU'LL EXCUSE MY NOT RISING, WON'T You? Medicine for Anti-Semitism M*kY ANTIN’S piece in the January Atlantic Monthly is good medicine for excessive anti-Jewish antip- athy. She came to Boston, a Jewish child, with her family from Poland. She tells all about it, especially how she went to the public schools and what she got there. Her writing is itself the surprising evidence of what she learned, and the feelings she expresses are reassuring evi- dence that there are Polish Jews whom it is worth while for our country to assimilate. A store of gratitude is not so ill a thing to add to the resources of this nation, if only it persists a little while as gratitude, and does not turn too soon to sentiments much more aggressive and much less helpful. Satisfied “"THERE'’S no rest for the wicked.” “Well, they don’t want any; they'd rather keep at it.”