Life — June 4, 1914 — page 23: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This Life magazine cartoon depicts a ghostly elderly woman (labeled "Mother of old") presiding over a women's suffrage movement. The marching women below carry banners reading "Social Motherhood," "Feminism," "Equality," and other progressive causes, while the spectral figure watches from above. The satire appears to invoke historical "motherhood" as a spiritual guide for modern feminism and women's rights activism. The repeated phrase "lest we forget" suggests the artist is reminding viewers of traditional maternal values while women pursue political equality and expanded social roles. The cartoon likely critiques or comments on tensions between traditional femininity and feminist activism—whether modern women's movements honor or reject classical ideals of motherhood and domesticity.