Life, 1913-07-31 · page 7 of 36
Life — July 31, 1913 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page presents a poem by John Kendrick Bangs about a woman named Julia who is a suffragette (women's rights activist). The header illustration shows six caricatured figures representing different female stereotypes or roles. The poem expresses a man's conflicted feelings: he disapproves of Julia's suffrage activism and her neglect of traditional "feminine station," yet he cannot help loving her. He worries about her jail time and radical behavior, though he admits her passion "fills my heart with woe." The illustration below titled "Prodigal Daughters" appears to depict fashionable women in what seems a leisure setting, likely satirizing the lifestyle or perceived frivolousness of women activists or the "New Woman" of the early 20th century. The satire mocks both suffragettes and male anxiety about women's independence.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
HEN as abroad my Julia goes, Armed with a stick of dynamite Hid deep within those furbelows That look so pleasing to the sight, Her fell intention, clear and plain, To blow some railway station up, ‘Tis then my soul is filled with pain, And over-bitter is my cup. As to Julia: Suffragette Not for the station do I care— Its architecture’s seldom fine, And if it sails off through the a I'm sure ‘tis no affair of mine; But Julia, spite of all her ways, The which from etiquette depart Is still the bright light of my day: The uncrowned mistress of my heart. PRODIGAL DAUGHTERS And even if she went to jail, Ten days, two months, or e’en a year, My ardent love would never fail; I still should hold her just as dear; But yet it fills my heart with woe And trembling when I think what she, If she could treat a station so, When we are wed will do to me! John Kendrick Bangs. comicbooks.com