Life, 1915-12-02 · page 94 of 100
Life — December 2, 1915 — page 94: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page combines a Houbigant perfume advertisement with a humorous poem by Carolyn Wells satirizing the social burden of Christmas thank-you notes. **The Satire:** The poem mocks the exhausting obligation facing unmarried men (bachelors) who must write tedious thank-you letters for unwanted gifts. While married men with families supposedly escape this burden, bachelors face relentless correspondence to female gift-givers—"Ethel and Kate and May," "Maid, widow and wife"—thanking them for impractical items: "A frightful lamp, a terrible vase, / A criminal Morris chair!" **The Point:** The humor plays on gender dynamics and social convention. Women giving gifts to eligible bachelors creates an inescapable obligation of gratitude. The bachelor's suffering contrasts with his final "gay uplift"—he sings praises of gift-giving only because he's "handsome and young and rich," suggesting cynical performance rather than genuine appreciation. The adjacent Mark Twain advertisement uses this context to suggest literature as the ideal gift—requiring no thank-you torture.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘CHRISTMAS LIFE- THE MOST EXQUISITE ODORS Like the finest masterpieces of art and music, HOUBIGANT PERFUMES delight the senses of all of discriminating and cultivated taste. HOUBIGANT QUELQUES VIOLETTES a delicate combination of violet scents —with the distinctively “woody” odor. A perfume of wistful charm and beauty that yields forth the inmost nature of the violet. HOUBIGANT QUELQUES FLEURS —the sweet profusion of newly-picked lossoms—blended in lavish harmony. Abundantly fragrant—odor supreme— truly garnered froma world of flowers. HOUBIGANT COEUR DE JEANNETTE —a perfume that bestows on woman the softer appeal of indefinable charm, almost infinitely illusive and magical, HOUBIGANT PARFUM IDEAL —most intense, most vibrant perfume created. Tropical, languorous and en- ticing—aperfume thatinevitably lends compelling influence to the person. OTHER DELIGHTFUL HOUBIGANT ODORS Evette Jasmin Inconna La Rose France Giroflee Oeillet du Roi HOUBIGANT CREATIONS ARE seems red IN Extract FoletWwater _Sucherand Seoo Face Powder Sachet Envelopes For sale at all leading dealers and our stores. PARK & TILFORD NEW YORK Sole Agents for the United States and Canode Samples Quelques Fleurs, 25e. Other odors, 20c. The Song of the Gift WITH fingers weary and worn, With brain a series of blanks, A bachelor sat in his bachelor den Writing his notes of thanks. Scratch, scratch, scratch, Now slowly and now more swift; In fluent phrase and honeyed word He sang the song of the gift. Write, write, write, “Your exquisite tie-case is here——" Write, write, write, “Tt is just what I wanted, dear!” It's oh, to go and live On India’s Coral Strand; Where woman has never a gift to give— If this is a Christmas land! Write, write, write, To Ethel and Kate and May; Write, write, write, To Fanchon and Mrs. McKay, Maid, widow and wife, Wife, widow and maid, Till the heart is sick and the brain is punk And a crick in the shoulder blade. Write, write, write, “T thank you a thousand times— Write, write, write, “TI love those Cuckoo Chimes!” Ties, mufflers and gloves, Pipes, ash-trays and steins; Fobs, key-rings and traveling clocks, And “choice” cigars and wines. Oh, men with families dear, Oh, men with children and wives, How little you know of the fearful gifts Besetting Bachelors’ lives! A frightful lamp, a terrible vase, A criminal Morris chair! And a sketch so rank, my shadow I thank For sometimes falling there. With fingers weary and worn, With brain unable to think, A bachelor sat in his blue pajams Wielding his pen and ink. Write, write, write, In a vein of gay uplift; And still with a note of felicitous piteh, Because he was handsome and young and rich, He sang the song of the gift! Carolyn Wells. HARPER & BROTHERS, ——____, Let Us Suppose your hopes for your library are modest—that it will contain, say, only three standard sets Which sets should you have? Shakespeare, of course, “Dickens, or Scott, or Thackeray, we presume. Bur, as an American, with an Amet- ean family, can you omit MARK TWAIN the Breatest writer that this continent has yet developed? So long as the Author’s National Edition is available, you certainly cannot. For it gives you the opportunity to obtain a uniform set—all his collected writings—170 short stories, essays, sketches, famous books of travel, great works of fiction— spor at % Price ee As a humorist, Mark Twain is best known and strot best beloved. "Do you know of another author you who has made as many millions laugh as has thie Mark Twain? His humor does not offend. It is audacious—extravagant—exaggerated— typically American, Beneath it is deep philoso- edge phy—sound common sense—a passionate love inse of justice—hatred of sham and hypocrisy. tse He is the world’s greatest humorist—the great writer of boy’s books—the ripe philosopher— the master of pathos—and of English. keep A set of his collected writings should be in your hope library, or else it is not complete. Di Is Mark Twain in Your Home? fas Do Not Delay. “Tomorrow” they must may be too Iate othe for the Author's National Edition will be whe withdrawn. Over 1,250,000 copics of this edi- tion have been sold, ‘There will be a new edi- tion at a higher price. If you delay you will —— have to pay more. Ther, why delay? The price is now $1.00 per volume, for the twenty five volumes. Now you also obtain a year's subscription to Hanrer’s Macazine. Now you pay only $2.00 monthly and now you Send for the books THE HARPER WAY and Take No Risk Look the books over carefully. Take ten days. If you do not like them, send them. back “collect,” we will cancel the subscription to Harrer’s Macazine and you will owe us nothing. Judge for yourself the manufacture of the books (we don’t describe them here be cause we want you to send for them—and see for yourself, why this set has pleased its tens of thousands of satisfied owners), Send the cou- pon now. driv mani clain Frankux Sovare, New Yorx City Send, prepaid, MARK TWAIN'S WORKS, tw: volumes, cloth binding. and enter my name as a 51 for one year to HARPER'S MAGAZINE. I may retais the set for ten days, and ben if I do not care for the books I will return them at Ix expense and you willl « « subscription to the M AGE NE. If T ke will remit $1.00 and then $2.00 a month until | Of the books snd the MAGAZINE, $25.00, tas bo Signature Send books to comicbooks.com