Life, 1912-06-27 · page 19 of 45
Life — June 27, 1912 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satire mocks the emerging women's suffrage and independence movement of the early 1900s. The magazine's "Correspondence Bureau" humorously addresses a social crisis: wives are no longer leaving home for summer vacations, instead staying to pursue "social and political activities"—clearly referencing suffrage organizing. The joke centers on male anxiety about women's changing roles. A husband complains he cannot rest because his wife remains home, preoccupied with political activism. The magazine's patronizing "advice" to husbands acknowledges women's "intellectual dominance" while dismissing suffrage as a temporary phase wives will outgrow. The cartoon illustration of the "tall, handsome blonde" receptionist represents the New Woman—employed, independent, and competent enough to manage the office alone. The satire targets both anxious husbands and progressive women, mocking male fears that women's political engagement threatens domestic arrangements and masculine leisure.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
-LIFE- Leave Wifey At Home This is Now Proper Thing for All Husbands—Corre- spondence Bureau Looking Out for Its Regular Customers P to the present time it has been the custom for American wives to go away in summer and leave their husbands behind. Owing, however, to recent changes, the women are so busy that they cannot get away, and it therefore happens that a great many of our customers are confronted by a condition and not a theory. One of our friends writes: Dear Sir: I don’t mind living with my wife for a few months during the win- ter time, but her programme for the summer seems to include stay- ing at home by her own fireside, because, as she expresses it, she has so many social and political activities that she cannot afford to take the time to recuperate. Mean- while, I am confronted by the harrowing fact that not only have 1 got to work at my office all summer, but apparently there is no means of recuperation. I fear I shall break down. What can you suggest? We are frank to admit that this con- dition is serious and has called for the combined resources of this office. The chairman of our entertainment com- mittee, in conjunction with the tall, handsome blonde on the right as you enter, had made up a programme for our customers this summer. which in- cluded a great many special trips for our “ Seeing-the-Tenderloin” automobile, and also a number of new and startling features for the recreation of our cus- tomers whose business compelled them to stay in town and be away from their family. After these arrangements were all made it suddenly began to dawn upon us that, owing to the new status of women, comparatively few wives were going to give their hus- bands an opportunity to rest up. Under these circumstances we had to act quickly. We beg leave to an- nounce, therefore, to all of our patrons whose wives are going to stay home that we have made extensive arrange- ments with all summer resorts for our regular customers to slip away and spend a few days on their own ac- count. In the meantime we beg to state that we ourselves are obliged to take a stort rest and shall probably go over to our Paris branch, leaving our office in charge of the tall, handsome blonde. The fact is that the recent rise of women in this country and their ap- parent intellectual dominance has been “The tall, handsome blonde (on the right as you enter)” 1303 getting on our nerves so much that we are not what we were. Furthermore, our recent marriage, we are compelled to admit, has not been the soothing success that we ex- pected. We had not been married to our wife more than six weeks before she began to develop suffrage tenden- cies, and it took all the resources of our office to hold her down. o 8 « TH most harrowing feature of our business has been the fact that many of our customers themselves have apparently been in sympathy with their wives, and we have had to fight this tendency when they themselves were fighting us. In the long run, however, we feel quite certain that every husband we have on our list will come back to us in his normal condition. Meanwhile, we should like to give a few parting words of advice to all those whom we leave alone for the next few weeks. Remember that love in the long run will triumph over everything else. If you find that your wife is beginning to read books written by other women which deal with the inside workings of their minds, don’t allow this to dis- courage you permanently. Select some handsome young girl for a companion and be seen with her occasionally. kemember that your wife, no matter how intellectual or political she may seem, is in reality only acting a part. She is in truth being hypnotized by the prevailing fashion, which includes tke political and social activity of women in general, But don't be de- ceived by this. We have had a long experience with the female heart and ve no hesitancy in saying that the suffrage movement is merely a new form of activity to excite and arouse our feelings. The moment that men lose interest in it the women are bound to drop it. Our advice to our patrons, therefore, is to remain calm and get as much fun out of life as possible. For this purpose register at our office early and tell us where you would like to spend a good deal of your time this summer. We will see that you enjoy yourself, and that you come back to your wife in the fall a new man. Our present intention is not to take our own wife along with us to Pari comicbooks.com