Life, 1916-01-13 · page 7 of 44
Life — January 13, 1916 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three separate satirical pieces mocking early 20th-century social attitudes: **Top cartoon**: Depicts children on a seesaw labeled "LIFE," illustrating the definition of pessimism through physical metaphor—choosing both evils rather than one. **Middle cartoon**: Shows an urban riverside scene where someone explains that a pessimist "died a natural death" by being "run over in the streets of New York"—dark humor about urban danger. **Bottom cartoon**: Features a woman walking with a dog, with observers remarking "How masculine Sadie has become in the last few years!" and attributing this to her having "turned feminist." This mocks early feminists, suggesting that women advocating for rights were perceived as unfeminine or masculine—a common anti-feminist trope of the era. The page satirizes both pessimism and emerging feminism.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“P*. what is a pessimist?" ‘DP he die a natural death?” “My son, a pessimist is a man who when given his “Yes, so I understand. He was run over in the choice between two evils, takes both of them.” streets of New York.” wor ‘ “HOW MASCULINE SADIE HAS BECOME IN THE LAST FEW YEARS!” “YES, YOU KNOW SHE HAS TURNED FEMINIST.” comicbooks.com