Life, 1913-12-11 · page 36 of 40
Life — December 11, 1913 — page 36: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising** for *The Century* magazine and *St. Nicholas* (a children's magazine), not political satire. The main content is a subscription promotion highlighting the December issue's quality. The only narrative content is a short story titled "You Can't Most Always Sometimes Tell," which appears to be a morality tale contrasting two girls: **Flossie**, a "sensible girl" from a prosperous family who attends finishing school and behaves impeccably (never sitting alone with young men), versus **Flora**, from the "other side of the village," whose character implications remain unclear on this page. The story's implicit social commentary likely concerns **class differences and propriety** in small-town America—distinguishing the "cultured" wealthy girl from the working-class girl—though the full narrative point requires seeing the story's conclusion. The illustration (marked "Christian Science") shows two women playing sports or exercising, likely related to the story content.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1088 You enjoy the good things of . Life. That makes you eligible as a reader of The Century. Cover of the most elaborate Christmas number ever printed in America. From its beautiful cover, painted by George Inness, Jr., to the last page of “In Lighter Vein’, a sparkling and humorous magazine in itself, the December issue is, to date, the best example of the ‘‘new spirit of The Century.” Rich in fiction, art and poetry, this number is crowded with values. “The Modern Quest for a Religion’? by Winston Churchill, author of ‘‘The Inside of the Cup,” is a thoroughly readable paper for the ‘‘Public Concerned with the Greater Things.” The coupon below secures you a year’s reading for the whole family at a remarkably low price $4.00 a year THE CENTURY 35c. a copy Tue Century Co., Union Square, N. Y.: I accept your SPECIAL OFFER of the CENTURY and ST. NICHOLAS for $5.00 (regular price $7.00) and enclose herewith five dollars. Send the Century to. Address Send St. Nicholas to Birthday . s+ Address You Can't Most Always Some- times Tell LOSSIE and Flora lived in a medium-sized village which sup- ported a First National Bank, an Insti- tute for Savings and three fully fledged sectarian churches on the side, not to mention a combination baseball field and camp-meeting ground on. the out- skirts. Flossie always stayed home in the still winter evenings and helped her mother darn the family socks and read aloud from the Heart to Heart talks in the Ladies’ Home Journal, But in the course of time, Papa became prosper- ous and Flossie was sent off to a cul- ture emporium on the Hudson, where they cut history on the bias and jug- gle with the conjugations for three hours a week, and where all of the Pupils carry hothouse flowers to the annual commencement exercises, fur- nished by a Fifth Avenue florist who gets a rake-off on the proceeds. Flossie was a real nice, sensible girl. She had never sat in the rear parlor until midnight while a kind young man with white facing on his waistcoat held her hand by the hour and talked about the baseball averages, and papa and mamma were sitting in the rear at- tic room meekly waiting for the signal to come from below to lock up. Flossie was such a real good girl thar she never caused her dear parents a moment's uneasiness. She could even hire servants. Flora was quite different. Flora lived on the other side of the village, about three-quarters of a mile away, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE comicbooks.com