Life, 1913-06-19 · page 20 of 52
Life — June 19, 1913 — page 20: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes early 20th-century gender dynamics and the widening intellectual gulf between men and women. **"Sherlock Holmes in New York"** (top left): A playful sketch mocking male detectives' limited observational skills. Holmes deduces a woman is a "New Jersey commuter" from mosquito bites—a ridiculous non-sequitur that jokes about men's inability to understand women's lives or perspectives. **"A Growing Necessity"** (main essay): Argues that women's education and responsibilities are expanding while men remain intellectually stagnant, occupied only with "dull" financial details and sports. The piece satirically proposes "schools for higher education of men"—suggesting men, not women, need intellectual improvement to keep pace with their female counterparts. **The conversation** (right): Ironic domestic humor: a wife wants to visit Europe; the husband persuades her to stay home so he can go to Europe alone, showing marital disconnection and selfish male priorities. **Bottom illustration**: Appears to depict lawn irrigation, possibly reinforcing the essay's point about men's preoccupation with mundane, domestic details. The overall message critiques male intellectual complacency amid women's advancement.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Frtawr ice SHERLOCK HOLMES IN NEW YORK “THAT WOMAN IS A NEW JERSEY COMMUTE! “WONDERFUL! WONDERFUL! BUT HOW DID YOU DISCOVER IT?” “THIS IS GREAT, I WON’T HAVE TO WATER THE GARDEN “ny THE MOSQUITO BITES ON HER FACE.” TO-NIGHT.” A Growing Necessit taught to converse easily with women 7 . 8 ty on ordinary subjects of the day, such ODD: Is your wife going to Eu- | as the higher psychology, the differen- Hope thls year’ intellectual gulf between men and tial subconsciousness, the philosophy Toop: .. I've persuaded her to women is constantly becoming wider. of Henri Bergson and other ‘more stay home. It is increasingly difficult for the ordinary topics, such as European “And what are your plans?” average woman to extract any amuse- news and Eugenics. “T hope to go to Europe.” ment or mental comradeship from the average man, whose time is chiefly oc- cupied with the intensely dull and un- imaginative details of financial opera- tions, or with the vulgar sports of the present day, like baseball, aquatics and shot-putting. On the other hand, the responsibil- ities which lie upon our women are constantly growing heavier, while along with these responsibilites—intel- lectual, social and governmental— there is no corresponding increase in the avenues of comradeship. Men in- deed can no longer converse with women or be of any help to them. In these circumstances, schools for the higher education of men should REDUCED ILLUSTRATION Frost “ be started at once. Men should be T is more and more evident that the TEN THOUSAND MILES UPON THE LAWN” BY A. SUBURBA KNICHT comicbooks.com