Life, 1913-01-09 · page 33 of 100
Life — January 9, 1913 — page 33: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical story about early automobile culture, likely from the 1910s-1920s when cars were still novel and unreliable. A woman asks a distracted man if she can earn a dollar by starting his broken-down car. He ignores her, absorbed in reading a newspaper, while she struggles through complex mechanical instructions (spark plugs, carburetors—real technical challenges of early cars). After finally getting the engine running, she outwits him: she asks the boy to request the man's pencil under false pretenses, then drives away and writes on his own message: "Catch me—if you can!" The joke satirizes masculine assumptions about women's mechanical incompetence and inattentiveness. The woman proves capable, resourceful, and clever enough to escape with a dollar earned through her own effort and wit—mocking the man's condescending dismissal.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“Do you want to make a dollar?” But the man in the It was a week old, She hesitated for some time. machine was busy reading a paper. but she didn’t know it. She followed instructions and, lo! the spark plug buzzed with its own fiery excitement. The boy came with another note: “First turn over the crank several times while the plug is out, to free the gas. Put the plug back, if there is a spark, and turn to your right the little needle valve under the carburetor until it is tight, then turn it back a little and try to start up.” All this took some little time. The man went on read- ing. Then came another: “T can tow you home if necessary. The rules oblige me to.” Another: “Don't be discouraged. Turn on a little more gas.” Once more: “T'll never desert you. I couldn't if I wanted to. Give her another turn.” Suddenly, as she turned the crank, there was an ex- plosion, and. lo! the little machine started up. Her face telaxed. She jumped in, and whispered something to the boy. That individual, keenly alive to the situation, strolled over to the man in the machine. “She wants your pencil a moment.” Pretty soon the boy came back. She was nearly half a mile down the road. And then the man read, on the back of his own mes- sage: “Catch me—if you can!” T. LM. comicbooks.com