Life, 1914-01-29 · page 13 of 40
Life — January 29, 1914 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Life magazine page (181) contains a photograph titled "His Dilemma" showing a man holding a baby in a dark interior, with the caption "If he puts the baby down she'll cry and wake the house." Below is an article titled "Official Matrons For Dancers" discussing Indianapolis's new city ordinance requiring official matrons at dances. The piece explains these matrons—typically older women—would supervise propriety and manage rowdy young men, particularly intoxicated ones who needed removing without causing disturbance. The humor lies in the gap between the serious civic solution and practical reality: just as the man in the photograph faces an impossible situation (the baby will cry either way), the ordinance's underlying problem—unruly young men at dances—may be unsolvable through mere supervision. The satire mocks well-intentioned bureaucratic solutions to social disorder.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
HIS DILEMMA IF HE PUTS THE BABY DOW) SHE'LL CRY ND WAKE THE HOUSE Official Matrons For Dancers 1E city council of Indianapolis has lately passed an ordinance requir- ing the presence at dances of an official matron to see that proprieties are re- spected, and with authority to intervene where they are not. The first appearance of this official—so the press reports si was on December 18th “at a dance given by society folks at a local hotel”. The matron appointed was a member of the sect that had the dance. She found nothing to censure, and declined the fee of two dollars allowed by the law. The text of this ordinance has not come cast yet, but it sounds like a convenient rule, and one that would be welcomed perhaps in these parts, where there are frequent complaints from the most fastidious circles of young men who do not dance with propriety. and of the need of detaching from the proceedings other young men who have overtaxed themselves with cham- pagne. It is often embarrassing to a hostess to have to throw a tipsy young man out of a dance. That kind of service is usually best done by an official person, and a lady of a decided nature, with help, perhaps, from a butler, can do it ‘perfectly. In dance-halls and dances where people pay admission, a competent official matron would be a very great safe- guard and protection to girls. This Hoosier idea is not a bad one. It offers, among other things, a new paid employment for women, and one in which women are adapted to excel An Invitation ELIGHTED YOUNG LADY (to young man she hes been dancing with): Oh, I could dance to heaven with you, Youxc Man: And can you reverse? comichooks.ceyn)