Life, 1913-12-25 · page 11 of 41
Life — December 25, 1913 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This *Life* magazine page contains two satirical cartoons addressing gender and social issues: **"A General Surrender" (top):** Depicts military figures surrendering to what appears to be suffragettes or women's rights advocates, satirizing the suffrage movement's perceived threat to male authority. **"Open Letter From a Suffragette":** The accompanying letter by "Arabella Snockume" protests the tradition of depicting New Year's personifications as male or masculine. The author argues women should be represented equally, criticizing the "discrimination of the rankest kind." She proposes the New Year be depicted as a girl instead, noting this would be "fairer to both sexes." **The skating cartoon (bottom):** Humorously depicts children discussing Christmas gift exchanges, with one suggesting sending money ("a nickel") rather than physical presents—unrelated to the suffrage content above. The page satirizes both suffragists and traditional gender conventions of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Se Open Letter From a Suffragette ‘0 the Public: Nothing better illustrates the inferior position of woman in the present era than the custom of depicting the New Year as a child of the male or masculine gender. As this practice is absolutely indefensible and can be ex- plained only as a studied insult to womanhood, I want to enter a protest in my most militant manner. It is dis- crimination of the rankest kind. Tell me why the New Year should be pictured as a boy? Give one reason. Leap Year, at least, ought to be pictured as a girl. That would show some slight spark of justice in the tyrant sex. But no, you are not willing to concede the relative values of man and woman to be as nearly equal as three to one. We are willing to overlook the past to the extent of compromising this matter. The retiring year is always de- picted as a worn-out and decrepit old man. To that we do not object, for women seldom grow old. Why not then let that go on as before? What could be fairer to both sexes than to let the old year be an old man, and the New Year be a little girl? Little girls are nicer than little boys, anyway. Yours determinedly, Arabella Snookums. A GENERAL SURRENDER “Y TELL YOU WHAT WELL DO THIS CHRIS’MAS, GERTIE. INSTEAD OF BUYING EACH OTHER PRESENTS, I'LL SEND you A NICKEL AN’ YOU SEND me A NICKEL.”