Life, 1913-01-09 · page 26 of 100
Life — January 9, 1913 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two satirical pieces mocking early 20th-century anxieties: **"Bromidioms"** (left): A humorous list comparing managing a motor car to managing a wife—both require upkeep, cause owners to boast endlessly, inflate local prices, and demand skilled handling. The "Reckless Driver" cartoon above shows a careless motorist endangering pedestrians, illustrating the era's concerns about dangerous driving. **"Joy Riders"** (bottom left): Illustrates frivolous young passengers in automobiles, reflecting period anxiety about cars enabling unsupervised youth socializing. **"Conservation of Energy"** (right): Satirizes feminist reformer Charlotte Perkins Gilman's proposal for a "Take Turn Mother's Club," where five mothers would rotate childcare to free up time. The author mock-sympathetically notes the plan ignores practical complications (disease transmission, children's personality conflicts), while defending Gilman's right to her "fool idea." This reflects contemporary debates over women's liberation and domestic labor.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Bromidioms That Apply to Your Motor or Your Wife ['° isn’t the initial cost; it's the up- keep that counts. Every man thinks his own the best —or pretends he does. There’s something about having one that makes a man feel mighty impor- tant. When the country hotel-keepers see you coming with one they put up the price of everything. Lots of people think second-hand ones are just as good. Anybody can get one, but it takes a master hand to manage one the right way. THE RECKLESS DRIVER Of course, it’s not a cheap venture any way you look at it—but the best cconomy is to get a good one. When a man gets a new one he can’t talk about anything else. “No, I don’t want a fast one; what I want is reliability.” Often they're efficient and depend- able on a level road; it’s the uphill times that count If people stopped to think what the extra supply bills would be, they wouldn't be so crazy to get one. “Yes, I suppose they are largely re- sponsible for the increased cost of living.” Carolyn Wells. JOY RIDERS Conservation of Energy RS. CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN is nothing if not pro- gressive. One of her latest ideas is to lighten the burden of women by organ- izing a “Take Turn Mother's Club,” the idea being to send the children of five mothers to the sixth mother on alternate days until the children have gone the rounds. This would give five mothers freedom for a large part of the time. We pass over lightly such complica- tions as measles, whooping cough, and scarlet fever, not to mention the fact that the children may not all like each other at one and the same time. Chil- dren in this respect are strangely like other human beings. They have their likes and dislikes. We pass over also the likes and dislikes of mothers for other people's children. Mrs. Gil- man says that it would give each woman such a fine chance to learn Well, well! Mrs. Gilman is really a nice woman herself. She ought to be privileged, if she likes, to entertain a fool idea like this without prejudicing anyone against her needlessly. comicbooks.com