Life, 1913-07-24 · page 7 of 40
Life — July 24, 1913 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a poem titled "To My Absent Stenographer" by Corinne Rockwell Swain, addressing a missing office worker with humorous complaints about lacking stenographic assistance. The main illustration below shows a crowd of well-dressed people waiting at a train platform labeled "Point Pleas" for "the Saturday afternoon express." The cartoon satirizes leisure-class weekend travel—likely mocking the predictable, ritualistic nature of affluent Americans' Saturday excursions to seaside or country destinations. The crowded platform suggests this is an established social convention, with the formal dress and organized queue emphasizing the formulaic nature of weekend recreation among the middle and upper classes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
To My Absent Stenographer ITH how sad steps, O Mayme,,I cliMB the stair, Andview myy office, nowa lone ly scene! Oppresxed?, I sit medown at thy macghine To do my corrwspindeNce, once thycare|. I miss tHee$! not along thAt thhoU wast FAir, Butthat thou diddst achieve witjh joyous mien The ketters thst will drivemeMad i ween!5 The tasks that nOw a Ippk of strqngeness wearr. even thuss two days, And Two dats more, toil4d And coUld not cong8er,,howsoe(er I Trizd: These d3volish keys hav all my $fforts Foild, While powwer of spwlling is tome denied] Ahbh,, donotwait till all my pqper’s spoi8led — — Come baxk, coME BQCK again,,to blessand gUidE 1! Corinne Rockwell Swain. IPS are common to inhabited places, but the best varieties are discovered in shady nooks in lanes and over rustic gates. It is generally conceded that two lips are better than one. Also it is universally admitted that a lip by any other name would taste as sweet; also that all lips are not so well guarded as they should be. Lips were once the gateways to literature, oratory and power; now they are used for suffragette and after dinner speeches. Planting a kiss twice -a day upon the same lips is said to produce monotonous but good results by those who have tried it, and to yield the largest crop of fidelity, virtue and love. LSIE: I didn’t know he could afford to give you such an expensive engagement ring. Ecerta: He couldn’t—but wasn’t it dear of him? WAITING FOR THE SATURDAY AFTERNOON EXPRESS