Life, 1914-03-26 · page 16 of 41
Life — March 26, 1914 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**"A Real Need"** satirizes women's suffrage and the feminist movement, specifically targeting Emmeline Pankhurst, the prominent British suffragette leader. The piece jokes that now that Orville Wright has invented a stabilizer for flying machines, he should invent one to "stabilize" women—implying they're dangerously unstable. The reference to "Mrs. Pankhurst" being "stabilized" mocks suffragettes as chaotic threats to society. **The cartoon below** shows two men discussing life insurance, a straightforward joke about cheap weekly premiums. **"Incidental"** darkly satirizes modern concerns about declining birth rates, suggesting that stopping childbirth might be civilization's solution to its problems—wars, divorces, bad government—presenting this as grim "consolation." **"Modern"** mocks contemporary youth culture: an eight-year-old girl displays sophisticated, cynical attitudes (studying Bergson, cubism, syndicalism) and casually dismisses dead siblings as unworthy of remembrance. The satire critiques modern philosophy and materialism corrupting childhood innocence. The page reflects early 20th-century anxieties about women's rights, modernism, and social change.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
EEE: A Real Need _-AJOW that Mr. Orville Wright has successfully invented a stabilizer for a fly- ing machine, so that it is rendered fool-proof, will he not kindly invent one for a woman? Not all of us are obliged to fly. Most of us, however, can y scarcely avoid getting tangled up with some woman. What we want is a fool-proof stabilizer that they will be compelled to wear. Think of the number of good men who have been badly damaged by ladies. Talk about defunct aviators—they are as nothing in the balance. What would England give Mr. Wright if Mrs, Pankhurst could be properly stabilized? Crastire bG nea “THE DOCTOR HAS GIVEN ME A MONTH TO LIVE,” “GREAT SCOTT, MAN! DON’T YoU KNOW YOU CAN BUY LIFE FOR TEN CENTS A WEEK?” Incidental If the birth rates of England, Germany and France continue to decrease as they have since 1880, there will be no children born one hundred years hence. —Dr. J. McKeen Cattell. Jpe custom of having children born is the cause of most, if not all, of our troubles. It is the cause of wars, mental disturbances, divorces, governments and mod- ern literature. What consolation, to know that, in all probability it is only a passing fad. Modem I met a little village maid, She was eight years old, she said. I knew this by the split skirt, the brazen face, the extremely sophisticated and cosmopolitan air, the bad manners, .in- cluding a forward aspect, and the remarkable collection of flaura and fauna that clustered upon ber Head. “Tell me, my little maid,” I asked, “How many you may be.” She replied pertly: “Brother John is teaching the tango in a New York hotel. Sister Mary is running for alder- man, and the rest of the bunch—four of ’em—have either been killed in airships, run over by autos or operated upon by: surgeons, so that, although originally seven, we are now reduced to Three.” This is the spot where I should chide her, Raising my eyes to Heaven, Instead, I merely inquired if she didn’t think she ought to include the missing ones in her list, as customary, to which she replied, “ Not so, Old Top. Since I have been studying Bergson, syndicalism, cubism and sociology, the hereafter doesn’t interest me, and, so far as I am con- cerned, the four other members of my family who have departed don't count! Therefore, forget the old formula, and put us down in your efficiency list at three, not even.” Ss Ay eS Gh ARE WE RETURNING TO THIS? NYMPHS AND MERVEILLEUSES OF 1796 From “La Francaise Du Siecle”, by Octave Uzanne