Life, 1914-03-12 · page 15 of 44
Life — March 12, 1914 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes Jane Addams's "Imitation Home," a Chicago YMCA initiative providing affordable housing for young working women. The article argues the institution, while well-intentioned, offers only a "just-as-good-as" substitute for genuine domesticity—complete with "doormats and cozy corners" but lacking authenticity. The cartoon below mocks the absurdity of "imitation" solutions by depicting a skating instructor telling a woman he cannot teach her "without practice"—a nonsensical excuse that mirrors the article's point: you cannot authentically replicate life experience through institutions alone. The photograph at top ("A Broken Idol") shows what appears to be children in a shelter setting, illustrating the real conditions these facilities served. The cartoon's dialogue between Karl and Lucille, meanwhile, presents romantic sentimentality—a contrast highlighting how artificial environments cannot replicate genuine human connection.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
is HERO A Typical Product JANE ADDAMS has been commending what she is pleased to term the Imitation Home. This insti- tution is a product of Chicago. It is a protégé of the YW A. It is the next best thing to a real home that thousands of young women can have. It has doormats and cozy corners and chafing dishes—everything but shav- ing soap and rattles, It isn't ideal, as Miss Addams sug- gests, but in the just-as-good-as class it offers the best- wn substitute for the real thing. There is no reason why the Imitation Home should not ke ture, and an imitation virtue—why not an Imitation Home? UCILLE (carnestly): Karl, 1 want to ask you one question, Kart. (also carnestly) : Why, what is it, sweetheart? Lucie (more in earnest than ever): Karl, if you had never met me, would you have loved me just the same? A BROKEN IDOL KISSES GIRLS lady: JUST STEP THIS WAY, PLEASE “UM AFRAID LE CAN'T DO IT WITHOUT PRACTICE, MISS”