Life, 1914-09-10 · page 9 of 48
Life — September 10, 1914 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a social satire cartoon about women's club culture. The illustration depicts an elegant indoor gathering of well-dressed women at what appears to be a social club event. The caption reads: "My dear, every woman ought to join a club. It's so refreshing to blackball some one you don't like." The satire targets the exclusionary practices of exclusive women's clubs—organizations where membership decisions involved voting to accept or reject candidates. "Blackballing" (rejecting someone) was the formal mechanism. The joke suggests that women are drawn to club membership specifically for the social power to exclude and ostracize others they dislike, rather than for the stated purpose of companionship or intellectual enrichment. This mocks both female social hierarchy and the pretensions of exclusive clubs.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
"~*Minor Topics I" is credibly reported that while we were all busy with the war in Europe the Cape Cod and the Panama Canals were opened for business, the City of Mexico was peacefully ‘occu- pied by General Obregon’s Constitu- tionalist troops, and Colonel Roose- velt opened the Bull-Moose campaign by a speech at Hartford. ¢ *All these have been back-page item. The decision that the Harvester Com- pany must disband also got into some of the newspapers, Lost! On the road from Berlin to St. Petersburg, ten centuries of civiliza- tion, Finder please notify Royalty, Box 23, Eastern Hemisphere. Metro for G. O, P.—It’s a long + party. that has no overturning. “ MY DEAR, EVERY WOMAN OUGHT TO JOIN A CLUB. IT’S SO REFRESHING TO BLACKBALL SOME ONE YOU DON'T LIKE”