Life, 1914-07-23 · page 11 of 40
Life — July 23, 1914 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The top cartoon satirizes a political rally or public gathering with the caption "HAIL, COLUMNIA, HAPPY LAND!" The figures appear to be politicians or public speakers at a podium, surrounded by citizens—likely mocking either a political movement or nationalist fervor of the era. The article discusses the bustle (a framework worn under women's skirts to create fullness at the back), predicting its return to fashion. It argues that modern women need less restrictive clothing because they travel more, exercise more, and occupy more physical space in contemporary life. The bottom cartoon shows a zebra encountering small children, with the caption "WHY, LILY! I DIDN'T KNOW YOU TILL YOU SMILED"—likely a joke about unfamiliar acquaintances or mistaken identity, though its specific reference remains unclear without additional context.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“HAIL, CALUMNIA, HAPPY LAND!” The Obsolete Bustle For some years now it has been regularly predicted that the bustle will come back into general use. But fashion has long been uncertain, and although the trades- people no doubt can regulate it to a certain extent, they cannot always drive the majority of women to water and make them drink. When the bustle was in vogue there was more room in the world than there is now. People did not live so tauch in apartments and automobiles. It is inconvenient to wear a bustle when you are crowded into a touring-car with six or seven other passengers on a one-hundred-mile-or-so trip. Thus efficiency and practicability have their effect upon style, and nowadays girls are made up slimmer, for one reason, because they pack together better. You can get more girls into a given space than you used to—omitting their hats, of course, Then again, women travel and exercise more and demand greater physical freedom. Petticoats are either preter- naturally thin or omitted altogether ; not necessarily because women have an inordinate desire to display themselves, but because without them they can cover more ground. And women to-day are covering more ground than ever before. “way, tity! I DIDN'T KNOW YOU TILL YOU SMILED” comicbooks.com