Life, 1912-12-26 · page 35 of 41
Life — December 26, 1912 — page 35: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page adapts Joseph Addison's 18th-century *Spectator* essay describing a "Widow-club"—a satirical portrait of scheming widows hunting for wealthy husbands. The humor targets women's financial motivations and remarriage patterns. The accompanying cartoons mock widows' desperation: one shows a woman at a privy labeled "Nothing but an egg yesterday and a feather duster to-morrow," suggesting economic precarity drives their husband-hunting. Another depicts a rooster, likely playing on sexual/domestic wordplay. The satire's point: wealthy widows weaponize their marital experience and financial independence to secure advantageous matches, treating husbands as acquisitions ("extending her possessions through all the counties"). By listing seven specimen widows with their matrimonial histories, the piece presents remarriage as mercenary calculation rather than romantic sentiment—a critique common to 18th-century satirical literature that Life reprinted for its early 20th-century audience.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Ob tec | NAL MAGAZINE Bosteo By Walt Kuhn Photogravure, 1334 x16 in. so cents LIFE He Pads Ca, yesterday and a feather duster to-morrow" By Mark Fenderson Facsimile in Color, 13x 15 in socents To any address, upon receipt of remittance. LIFE PUBLISHING COMPANY 17 West 31 Street, New York Addison on Widows Being some sccount taken from Addison's Spectator, of a famous Club of Widows in which several speci- mens are tabulated. “ Sir, Lam a tall, broad-shouldered, im- pudent, black fellow, and, as I thought, every way qualified for a rich widow; but after having tried my fortune for above three years together, I have not been able to get one single relict in the mind. My first attacks were generally successful, but always broke off as soon as they came to the word settlement. Though I have not improved my fortune this way, I have my experience, and have learnt several secrets which may be of use to those unhappy gentlemen who are commonly distinguished by the name of widow-hunters, and who do not know that this tribe of women are, gen- erally speaking, as much upon the catch as themselves. I shall here communi- cate to you the mysteries of a certain female cabal of this order, who call themselves the Widow-club. This club consists of nine experienced dames, who take their places once a week round a large oval table. “I. Mrs, President is a person who has disposed of six husbands, and is now determined to take a seventh; being of opinion that there is as much virtue in the touch of a seventh husband as of a seventh son. Her comrades are as follows : “II Mrs. Snap, who has four joint- ures, by four different bedfellows, of four different shires. She is at present upon the point of marriage with a Mid- dlesex man, and is said to have an am- bition of extending her possessions through all the counties in England on this side of Trent. III. Mrs. Medlar, who, after two husbands and a gallant, is now wedded to an old gentleman of sixty.” Upon her making her report to the club, she is still allowed to sit as a widow, and ac- cordingly takes her place at the board. “IV. The widow of Quick, married within a fortnight after the death of her last husband. Her weeds have served her thrice, and are still as good as new “V, Lady Catherine Swallow. She was a widow at eighteen, and has since buried a second husband and two coach- men. “VIL The Lady Waddle. She was married in the fifteenth year of her age to Sir Simon Waddle, knight, aged threescore and twelve, by whom she had twins. In the fifty-fifth year of her age she was married to James Spindle, Esq.. a youth of one-and-twenty, who did not outlive the hon oon. “VII. Deborah Conquest. The case of this lady is something particular. She is the relict of Sir Sampson Con- quest, sometime justice of the quorum. Sir Sampson was seven foot high, and two foot in breadth from the tip of one shoulder to the other. He terrified the whole sex, who none of them durst ven- ture on Sir Sampson. At length Mrs. Deborah undertook him, and gave so 251 You never know you re wearing them They are comfortable. They hold firmly, with- out pinching. Theyare becoming—even dis- tinctive. You put them on or take them off without touching the lenses. These are the reasons why you should wear Fits-U Eyeglasses identifies Fits-U Eyeglasses and the many other styles of glasses made by the American Optical Company, the oldest optical house in this country. It stands always for the very best workmanship and the very finest quality. If you wear glasses—or if you ought to—you will be decidedly i in- terested in our new booklet, ““The Glass of Fashion.’? A line will bring it to you—free. Asaress Dept. American Optical Company Southbridge, Mass. Largest makers of spectacles, eyeglasses and lenses in the world New York Chicago Saa Francisco comicbooks.com