Life, 1914-06-18 · page 42 of 44
Life — June 18, 1914 — page 42: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical advertisement announcing the death of "Mrs. Grundy," a literary figure representing old-fashioned propriety and moral strictness. The joke mocks conservative social standards that were rapidly disappearing in the early 20th century. Specific references: "slit skirts" were scandalously revealing women's fashions of the era; "tango tea" satirizes morally questionable modern social gatherings. Mrs. Grundy "died" from exposure to these new, liberated behaviors—a commentary on changing social mores. The ad promises readers Edgar Saltus's sympathetic account of this outdated morality figure, alongside fiction by several female authors (likely featuring the "super-women" mentioned), promoting Ainslee's magazine as capturing modern, progressive culture. At 15 cents, this was positioned as contemporary, exciting reading for the evolving American public.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
<2 Mrs. Grundy’s Dead! For some time before the end she had been suffering from neglect and also from inflammation due to exposure. After the slit skirt came in she was never quite the same. And then, mistaking it for a sewing class, she entered a tango tea. The current Ainslee’s presents a sympathetic account of the dear old lady’s.life.and work by EDGAR SALTUS In the same issue you will find a wealth of really entertaining fiction by such authors as Marie Van Vorst Bonnie R. Ginger Neith Boyce Ethel Train . Alicia Ramsey Have you, too, fallen under the spell of Albert Payson Terhune’s fascinating ‘‘ super-women’’? They’ re living in Ainslee’s. AINSLEE’S FoR JULY |]? Now on sale ar 15 cents the copy comicbookacom