Life, 1912-10-31 · page 38 of 44
Life — October 31, 1912 — page 38: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains advertisements and light verse satirizing changing social customs. The main cartoon-like content is the poem "Aunts, Ancient and Modern," which contrasts Victorian-era aunts with their 1912 counterparts. The satire mocks how dramatically female behavior has shifted: older aunts were domestic, sedentary figures (knitting, keeping cats, drinking elderberry wine), while modern 1912 aunts are active athletes—golfing, tobogganing, skiing, attending sporting events with enthusiasm. The poem pokes fun at this transformation by portraying the "new woman" of 1912 as vigorously athletic and public-facing, a stark contrast to the domestic ideal of previous generations. The advertisements for Fits-U Eyeglasses, Krementz studs, and Club Cocktail fill the remainder. A small dialogue joke compares horses disappearing from streets within five years, joking that they'd be "safer on the sidewalks"—likely referencing early automobile adoption. The content reflects early 20th-century social anxieties about changing gender roles and modernization.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SE REE RERERSRRE EEE S WE SE WO EAY SS OEESESSWEEE SSG EVEOESES OVS ESEEEAESOEETUOEET ETE EEVOOEOED FETEEOTD shake off. They making eyeglasse: New York Wear glasses that are becoming to you You should choose your glasses with as much care for their looks as you give to any other part of your attire. This choice is made easy by the good qualities and attractive appearance of Fits-U Eyeglasses are distinctly becoming, for they are carefully and tastefully designed and when correctly adjusted give an air of distinction to the wearer. Fits-U Eyeglasses, once on the be found, any optician’s. It is our pledge andthe various told in a booklet which we send free on request. is one about which you should be fully informed. Address Dept. E American Optical Company, Southbridge, Mass. Largest makers of spectacles, eyeglasses and lenses in the world Chicago San Francisco nose, will neither fall off nor marked with this monogram, at to you. The story of our way of styles we make is interestingly Send for it—the subject London Little Things in Dress Often count more than larger. Evening dress needs perfect studs to complete its effect Krementz Bodkin-Clutch Studs and Vest Buttons The kind that go in like a needle and hold like an anchor without marring the atiffest shirt front, are not only the easiest to manipula fect In workmanship No spiral springs. hollow tubes, hinge Jotots oF loose parts to cause trouble, a gold of platioum and set with precious stones, Ask any up-to. Jeweler to show for booklet showing igs, also our RIC sets. \TZ & CO N | ER ER REP PERRET T EEE EEE EET 8) FEES SEEPEEEESCEEEESEOESESSEEERSESESEESEE ——— errr Aunts, Ancient and Modern Where are the aunts of yesteryear. Whose quaint familiar faces Redeemed an age of chandelier, Of lavender and laces— Their daily role to knit and chat On ottoman or settle, Their properties a pampered cat. A caddy and a kettle? Where are the aunts of yesteryear, Whose charitable labors, Whose coal and flannel made them dear To impccunious neighbors ; Who breathed an air of Auld Lang Syne And struck delicious poses That went with elderberry wine And dessicated roses? Where are the aunts of yesteryear. The bane of little nephews Who feared the ebon crutch, the queer Appendage that the deaf use ; Small visitors who viewed askance Their : And qui Like ps tocratic habits led before the lorgnette glance alytic rabbits? 216 | Here where the groundsmen mow and delve Tilk every lie is grassy, You'll find the aunt of 1912 Most handy with her brassy: Scorning the after-luncheon nap, The mittened She, strives to bri: far niente, her handicap To something under twenty Here where the shelve And feathery flakes are swirling, You'll find your aunt of 1912 Tobogganing and curl Ski-ing and skating with the best In manner bright and hearty, She adds inimitable zest To any Alpine party. glittering snoweaps Queen of the tourney, she applauds Each feat of thew and tendon, Heroic bouts at Queen's or Lord's, jagh or Hendon; Where airmen plane, where batsmen plant Their feet across the creases, Young nd greets the modern aunt And disre; ., in Punch. Baker: In five years you won't sec a horse on the street. Waynes: Y. on the sidewalks.— they would be safer je Causeur, There’s just “the difference be- tween 7 raw, poorly made Cock- tail and a Club Cocktail that there is between a raw, new Whiskey and a soft old one. The best of ingredients—the most accurate blending cannot give the softness and mel- lowncss that age imparts. Club Cocktails are aged in wood before bottlin, ind no freshly made Cocktail can be as good. Manhattan, Martini and other standard blends, bottled, ready te serve through cracked ice. Refuse Substitutes AT ALL DEALERS c. tie HEUBLEIN & BRO., Sole P: jartford New York” London” FO 1GA ARS “MADE AT al GARS Tf bitior comicbooks.com