Life, 1914-12-03 · page 75 of 92
Life — December 3, 1914 — page 75: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains **a satirical dialogue** (labeled "A Dialogue") between two characters, Briggs and Griggs, discussing marital dynamics. The satire targets wives' surveillance of their husbands' behavior. **The premise:** Briggs observes that men are more companionable away from their wives. Griggs explains wives constantly monitor husbands' conduct, making them self-conscious and artificial in social settings. **The satirical point:** When Briggs logically suggests wives should be *pleased* to discover their husbands behave better in their absence (proving them fundamentally decent), Griggs responds with two cynical punchlines: (1) wives would feel *insulted* because the credit goes to others, not themselves, and (2) wives simply "wouldn't believe it." **The social commentary:** This mocks early 20th-century marital dynamics—specifically the controlling, suspicious wife trope and the paradox that even evidence of a husband's virtue wouldn't satisfy her jealous surveillance. The joke assumes wives are more invested in suspicion and control than in their husbands' actual character. The page is otherwise filled with period advertisements (soap, wafers, biscuits).
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
PaitrGAl LIFE dx fh. $ 20, for a Sample Cake JUST 100k through this, pure transparent soap, smell ite delicate perfume, and feel its rich, creamy lather on your face. You will never again be satisfied with any icilet soap less pure and perfect. LTD hyensin soap Insures a soft, clear, beautifal skin. Three generations of refined women oa both sides’ of the Atlantic have proven its merits. Sold in every country where beauty is admired or health desired. At sour ty goods dealer or druggist at 1Se. per cake. ©. send 2e stamp, of for 10 cents in stareps we will send you a ‘sample cake of No. 4711 White Rove Glycerine Soap, ain 1 Bath Salts anda sample bottie of No. 4711 Eas de Cologne. . AIL Liquid Waite Rove Glycerine Soap. A er mi io BRANCH OF MEIbeos, 4711 Glorkengasse, A Dialogue RIGGS: Why is it that some men are so much more companionable and unaffected when they are away from their wives? Griccs: That is because the wives of these men are watching them con- stantly to notice their defects. In the presence of their wives, therefore, these men, when others are also pres- ent, are self-conscious, They are act- ing a part. Their manners are artificial. Briccs: But wouldn’t you think that YOU NOTICED SHE WAS STANDING ON A STEP-LADDER the wives of these men would notice this very thing—of which they appear to be so ignorant? Wouldn't you think that they would come in time to sce that their constant surveillance of their husbands was producing upon them just this effect? Grices: No. Briccs: Why not? Griccs: Because to know this it would be necessary for them to know how their husbands are acting when they themselves are not present. Briccs: Well, then, let us suppose, just for fun, that, by means of some occult power, they are able to know this, NABISCO ‘Sugar Wafers —entrancing sweets which are always and everywhere popular. Wafer confec- tions centered with deli- cately flavored cream. The perfect accompani- ment for every dessert. In ten-cent tins; also in twenty-five-cent tins. ANOLA —a_ new conception in chocolate-flavored sweets, Exquisite wafers of crisped baking with choc- olate-flavored cream nestling between. Anola has achieved a new delight which only taste can tell— a flavor which gives immediate pleasure. In ten-cent tins. Griccs: They would be horrified, They would be scandalized. They would be mad. Briccs: But why? Why should they not in reality be glad, when they had made the discovery that their hus- hands are actually much better than they have hitherto supposed? Griccs: Because, my dear fellow, it would be no credit to them, but only to others. This would pique them. Briccs: Is that the best reason you can give? Guices: Can you think of a better? “Ves.” “And it is?” “They wouldn't believe it.” BISCUIT COMPANY comicbooks.com