Life — August 7, 1913 — page 17: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes a husband's sudden, unusually generous offer to his wife. The woman is sketched sitting with needlework while a man stands behind her, proposing to let her travel abroad and purchase expensive gowns and jewels—luxuries she apparently desired but couldn't afford or obtain previously. The wife's response—"What have you been up to now?"—reveals the cartoon's joke: such uncharacteristic generosity from a man named William Anderson appears deeply suspicious to her. She immediately assumes he's done something wrong and is attempting to placate her with gifts and permission to spend money. The satire mocks both marital dynamics (wives suspecting husbands' motives) and the era's gender economics, where wives depended on husbands' financial approval for purchases or travel.