Life, 1912-11-07 · page 23 of 60
Life — November 7, 1912 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Cartoon:** "Things for Which They Are Thankful" satirizes social types through caricature—a titled forecloser, divorceé, aviator, nouveau riche person, butcher, "slave of fashion," and poor bachelor. Each wears a placard identifying their defining characteristic or scandal, mocking both the wealthy and those obsessed with status symbols and appearance. **Poem:** Anti-suffrage sentiment. The verse jokes that winning a woman's love (especially a suffragette—a women's voting rights activist) is worse than losing it, reflecting opposition to women's suffrage, a major political battle of the early 20th century. **Story & Illustration:** "The Men and the Woman" contrasts how male relatives indulge Willie Johnson with candy while his mother restricts his diet—she alone acts wisely. The illustration shows a bank president in jail, reinforcing that only maternal discipline prevents harm, while unregulated indulgence (or financial recklessness) brings consequences.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A Poem-ette HOLD it truth, whate'er the cost, (It hasn’t cost me much as yet), ‘Tis better to have loved and lost, Than loved and won a suffragette. The Men and the Woman ILLITE JOHNSON'S father gave him a nickel to buy candy with and Willie bought sixty jaw-breakers and ate them, Willie’s uncle Tom gave him a dime and Willie bought half a pound of gum drops and ate them. Willie’s uncle Jim gave him a dime and Willie bought twelve sticks of candy and ate them. Willie's paternal grandfather gave him a quarter, which he invested in one bunch of chewing gum, forty chocolatz creams and twelve white and ate the lot maternal grandfather gave him a quarter, which Willie turned into a varied assortment of cinnamon drops, licorice balls, lemon drops, sour balls and peanut brittle—all of which he ate. When the family gathered for din- ner, it being the annual reunion, Wil- lie’s mother would not let him eat any THINGS FOR WHICH THEY ARE THANKFUL pie or preserves, because she did not approve of rich foods for children. Willie Johnson was the only one of the family who did not suffer indiges- tion next day, and Willie’s mother re- minded him gently that if she had per- mitted him to gorge himself on sweet foods he, too, would have been ill, DEFAULTING BANK PRESIDENT LANCU.SHING IN JAIL comicbooks.com