Life, 1913-12-04 · page 38 of 112
Life — December 4, 1913 — page 38: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**"An Imaginary Line"** (top cartoon): Shows the progression of Christmas gift-giving across social classes—from a poor child receiving minimal gifts to increasingly wealthy figures with elaborate presents, ending with Santa distributing to the affluent. This satirizes economic inequality during the holiday season. **"The Anti-Santa Claus League Gets Busy"**: Depicts what appears to be labor activists or reformers disrupting Christmas celebrations outdoors. The "Anti-Santa Claus League" likely references anti-commercialism sentiment or labor movements critiquing the commodification of Christmas. **"Questions of the Day"**: Parodies contemporary social debates (servant labor, divorce laws, women's suffrage with a joke about bombs, immigration restrictions, government corruption). **The quill/fountain pen joke**: Contrasts old goose-quill pens (spreading one goose's opinions) with modern fountain pens—commentary on how technology changes communication and opinion-spreading. **Tess/Christmas presents exchange**: Humorous observation about gift-giving reciprocity. The page reflects early 20th-century progressive anxieties about labor, class, suffrage, and modernization.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Christmas Thoughts (WHEN Christmas days and Christ mas ways My fancies should coerce, I find that I'm affected by The Imp of the Perverse. I think of flowers and leafy bowers Instead of frost and rime; Instead of snow and mistletoe, I think of summer-time. Of carols sung, of stockings hung, Of lighted Christmas trees I do not think. But of the pink Of blossoms in the breeze, And of the gold the daisies hold, And blue of morning-glory. I do not hear the Christmas cheer Or Christmas song or story, I only see a garden lea, With shady nooks and cosies; And Sylvia, in her garden hat, THE ANTI-SANTA CLAUS LEAGUE GETS BUSY A-watering her posies. Carolyn Wells. Questions of the Day 'HE Servant Question—How many is ther’ fam'ly? The Divorce Question—How much alimony? in the’ The Woman's Straight ? The Immigration Question—What’s in a namesky? The Graft Question—What are we here for? Suffrage Question—Is my bomb on “QAY, Pa, what were those quills they used to write with?” “Things they took from the pinions of one goose to spread the opinions of another,” replied Pa, as he refilled his fountain pen. ESS: Does George send you good Christmas presents? Tess: The finest I ever exchanged.