Life, 1916-01-13 · page 18 of 44
Life — January 13, 1916 — page 18: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This story satirizes early 20th-century male melodrama and the absurdity of honor codes. A man in love with his best friend's wife (Mollie) consults the husband about the affair with bizarre civility. The two men comically debate logistics—whether to shoot everyone, who should survive to "expiate the sin"—treating infidelity like a philosophical problem requiring proper etiquette. The joke's punchline: Mollie has run off with Mudrove, the husband's supposed "worst enemy," specifically to demonstrate that women won't be controlled by men's systems. She leaves a note mocking the husband's inability to manage her behavior. The accompanying cartoon panels show domestic chaos—children causing destruction—illustrating marriage's messy reality versus romantic fantasy. The satire targets masculine pretension, the performative nature of "honor," and suggests women have agency despite men's elaborate schemes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
66 “LPP E* The Flaw 'HE man who was in love with the wife of his best friend consulted his watch, as he stood on the corner opposite his best friend’s house. “He has just gone out,” he soliloquized, “and left her alone. Is this the proper and usual time for me to enter? Will he, in about half an hour more, recall that he has forgotten his whisk-broom or his spats and, returning, discover me? Then who shall be shot? We must do this thing right.” Hastening along the street, at last he caught up with his best friend and briefly explained the situation. “Does Mollie expect you?” said the best friend. “ Certainly.” “Um! There's a rusty old revolver in the tool cabinet. I might shoot you both and then myself. That would make a complete job of it—if there are bullets enough.” “We can send for more, if not. But it seems to me that one of us ought to remain alive to expiate the sin.” “That's so. What you might call an expiator.” “ Exactly.” “Let's go back and talk it over with Mollie.” Arriving at the house a few moments later, they entered. “Mollie!” called the husband. There was no answer. “Singular!” muttered the best friend. “She knew she was to wait.” Mollie's husband, in the meantime, had just finished read ing a note which she had left on the hat-rack. Te Loo aes No “OH, WELL—THEY'LL BE A COMFORT TO US WHEN THEY GROW UP. MMY, THERE'S GOIN’ TO A MINUTE Voice from Ba.e: STICK ARO! BE SOMETHIN’ DOIN’ 1 “Well,” he exclaimed, “if that isn’t just like a woman! They never do keep engagements.” The best friend read as follows: “You know Mudrove, the man you have hated and to whom you always refer as your worst enemy? Well, just to show that you can’t run things with a system where a woman is concerned, I’ve run off with him. See you later.” CHILDREN “ NEVER MIND—THEY WERE A PLEASURE WHEN THEY WERE