Life, 1912-01-25 · page 4 of 44
Life — January 25, 1912 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily a **subscription advertisement** for *Life* magazine, not a political cartoon. The main illustration shows a woman sitting at a desk with a child, depicting domestic contentment—likely meant to appeal to potential subscribers. The ad's headline, "You Can't Have Too Much of a Good Thing," promotes *Life*'s upcoming Valentine's Day issue. It humorously suggests that regular readership provides romantic excitement comparable to love itself. The "Recipe for Three Months of Happiness" is a tongue-in-cheek subscription offer: send scissors, a pen, a dollar, and a postage stamp to receive three months of the magazine. The small silhouetted figure at bottom left is generic—simply illustrating the ad's playful tone rather than referencing a specific person or political figure.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
You Can’t Have Too Much of a Good Thing Have you ever been in love? Have you ever felt the soft, delicious thrill that comes when you find yourself a regular subscriber to LIFE? (Mentioning LIFE was a pure inadvertence here. Please forget it.) Now, once a year we get out a Valentine Number— To be original. We get tired of the same old subjects, week after week, and in order to break the monotony, we are issuing this number dedicated to Love—whatever that i : We are calling next week's number a Valentine Number, in order to strike a new note in Literature. It isan excruciatingly commonplace number, besides being extremely interesting. It's a heart-beat extra. Sensational kissing episodes. Appalling statistics about hugging and squeezing now going on everywhere. Put this number under your pillow, and you will sce in a vision your future wife's relatives. Enclosed find One Dollar (Can- adian $| Foreign é “stands Send Lire for a Te Recipe for Three Months of Happiness f three months to Ten Cents Use a pair of ordinary scissors, a fountain pen (a plain one will do) and a dollar bill. Cut out the coupon, write your name and address on it, and address an en- velope to LIFE. Insert the dollar, borrow a postage stamp from a trusted friend, and mail in the nearest post office box. In one week you will feel like a new man or woman— “as the case may Pa Open only to new subscribers: no subsrip- be.” tion renewed at this rate. This offer is net. LIFE, 17 West 31, New York ONE YEAR $5.00, (CANADIAN $5.52, FOREIGN $5.04.)