Life, 1915-08-05 · page 7 of 44
Life — August 5, 1915 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This piece satirizes the social difficulties of helping friends in need. The top cartoon shows the word "LIFE" sinking like a ship, with tiny figures drowning—a visual metaphor for how one's life can be destroyed by helping others. The text describes a specific scenario: your intimate friend asks you to take his place on a Pacific Coast trip. This seemingly simple favor cascades into disasters: you're unexpectedly stuck with his wife for days, you fall in love with her, and you've invested twenty-five thousand dollars into a failing business at a critical moment. The photograph shows a bride receiving a gift (a tea set), with the caption sarcastically noting she must "lie for the sake of people one doesn't like"—suggesting forced gratitude for unwanted gifts is another form of modern social torment.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
a Modern Martyrdom who has developed the fatal disease of talking about his . on own business to others, with all the details, and with (Or Some Things That We Cannot Always Help.) whom you are unexpectedly thrown on the Second day LAYING golf with the wife of your intimate friend, out. who, having been called away, has asked her to take Falling in love with the wife of the man whom, after in- his place. finite diplomacy, you have just persuaded to put twenty-five Traveling out to the Pacific Coast with another friend thousand dollars into your business at a critical time. a) A fT) NSS LED ENS , f 4 The Bride: 1 WATE HAVING TO THANK THOSE HORRID SMITHS FOR THAT AWFUL TEA SET. SEEMS SINFUL TO LIF FOR THE SAKE OF PEOPLE ONE DOESN'T LIKE comicbooks.com