Life, 1916-10-05 · page 13 of 42
Life — October 5, 1916 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This cartoon illustrates a romantic/social scandal of the early 20th century. The illustration shows a woman being greeted at a train station by a man who embraces her passionately in front of witnesses—an act considered scandalous and improper for unmarked persons in that era. The accompanying story reveals the man is not her fiancé but an imposter who has deceived her. The humor/pathos lies in the social embarrassment: the public display of affection compromises the woman's reputation, and her family's mortification upon discovering the deception. The cartoon satirizes both romantic naiveté and the rigid social conventions of the period, where a woman's respectability depended entirely on propriety and proper courtship rituals.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“you MUST COME, A Sad Case HE was waiting for him at tke sta- tion. It was two o'clock in the afternoon, and he had to go back that evening on the midnight train. He acted like a man in a dream, but, none the less, he appeared to know precisely what he was about. As the train drew up the station was crowded. There she was, of the crowd, smiling and beckoning to him. Without a moment's hesita- tion, and before she even realized what was happening, he sprang forward, put his arms around her and planted a clinging kiss on her lips. She blushed intensely and whispered as well as she could: “Oh, you mustn't!" He made no reply. His eyes were fixed. Half frightened, she led the way to the motor car. They got in. in the midst TTY, THE OTHER HAS CREDIT AT TE THEY ‘ST FELLO' : WALDORF, AND THE THIRD GETS PAS He promptly took her hand, She at- tempted to motion to him that the chauffeur was in front and could see their reflection in the glass wind-shicld. He merely threw both arms around her and almost crushed her, as he kissed her over and over again. Her face showed indigna- tion, “You mustn't! We're not engaged.” “As if that mattered,” he muttered, taking another kiss. The motor car arrived at her home. They got out. They entered the house. Her mother came forward to receive Suddenly, without warning, he sprang forward and kissed her, throw- ing his arms about her like a cyclone. Her mother, attempting to free herself, gasped. This young man—whom she reely knew! The girl herself stared at him in open-eyed astonishment At this moment the maid entered the surprise and them. ONE HAS ATW AN! ES FOR ALL THE THEATRE room. As she stepped forward the young man caught sight of her. Wast- ing no time, and before the surprised mother and daughter could stop him, he had folded the maid in his kissed her also. She finally ran away There was an aunt visiting them. This gentle, middle-aged spinster was Aroused by the maid’s screams, she hurried into the room, But no sooner did this re- markable young man visitor see her than he promptly grabbed her, and cov- ered her face with kisses. The girl's father all this time had been quietly smoking on the piazza arms and screamed, and dozing in the next room. Hearing the commotion he hurried also. into the room, just in time to see the spinster lady, almost fainting with ter- herself loose. n kissing every one ofsus,” “There ror, t “He's bi murmured the girl's mother. comicbooks.com