Life, 1914-08-20 · page 13 of 40
Life — August 20, 1914 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Section ("In the Feminist Age"):** A satirical sketch showing a young girl in a bathing suit, with the caption noting she's "modest" about her outfit—clearly mocking early 20th-century feminist-era debates about women's clothing becoming less restrictive. **"The Failure of Labor Day" Article:** The text criticizes Labor Day's inability to inspire genuine patriotic enthusiasm, suggesting Americans struggle to celebrate workers meaningfully while maintaining social order. The author argues the holiday needs reimagining on "a much higher plane." **"The Lady with Different Feet" Illustration:** A formal dinner scene where a woman appears to have noticeably different feet—the joke appears to reference infidelity or hidden scandals beneath respectable social appearances, a common satirical theme of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LIFE: 297 IN THE FEMINIST AGE One of the Girls: porsx't THAT YOUNG SMITH CHAP WEAR A RATHER—-ER-—-IM MODEST BATHING- suit? AO ween The Failure of Labor Day ABOR DAY will never amount to a great deal, because we shall never be able to put any enthusiasm behind it. In order to make a holiday a perfect success, we must be able to work up a semblance of a spirit around it until it appeals either to the sincerity or the hypocrisy of human-kind, On Thanksgiving we can give an excellent imitation of being thankful. On Christmas many of us take an actual delight in proving how generous we can be. On New Year’s even the most weak-willed of us loves to go through the motions of inventorying his habits, good and bad, and drawing off some kind of a rough balance-sheet showing the profit and loss and the prospects. While on the Fourth of July every- body, without the slightest difficulty, lets loose and proves by an illimitable variety of noise that we are by all odds the freest nation on earth composed of ninety-odd millions of perfect patriots. But, although we have now had Labor Day for many years, we are still unable to rally around its banner. “Labor omnia vincit” is true enough no doubt, but all of us are trying to get along with as little of it as possible. Those who toil for their daily bread and to whom the day is dedicated hardly know how to act when the day rolls around, while nobody else even tries to find out how to act. Labor Day may yet be a success, but not until we have resolved our ideas concerning it to a much higher plane. E.0. J. To My Subliminal Consciousness p=. fickle captain of my energies complete, give me a word. I want your ear for a moment just to tell you how much I regard you. This is no taffy. But anyone who can make me do the things you do, well, he’s a Corker! Say, old man, you couldn't let me alone for a couple of weeks, could you? Yes—you go off somewhere and have a good time. I have an idea it would do me some good to take my trick At the helm. Besides, I want to get acquainted with myself. At present I can't tell the difference between your voice and mine, I don't know who's playing the band music and who's supplying the Horsepower. Do you? Oh, I don’t care where you go. Break away and give me a chance for my life. You won't, ch? Then prepare for the worst clubbing you ever got—take that! And that! Curses on you! THE LADY WITH DIFFIDENT FEET