Life, 1916-12-07 · page 78 of 94
Life — December 7, 1916 — page 78: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising and light humor**, not political satire. Key content: **Main Advertisement**: Congress Playing Cards are pitched as an ideal Christmas gift—affordable yet elegant, with artistic backs reproducing masterworks and gilded edges. The appeal targets middle-class gift-givers seeking tasteful, inexpensive presents. **Gibson Cartoons**: A book advertisement for Charles Dana Gibson's latest drawings, featuring his characteristic satirical commentary on social follies and "mentally unfit" behavior. **Political Joke**: A brief Republican/Democrat exchange jokes about a woman elected to Congress by Montana Republicans—the punchline being she'd be a "missrepresentative" (pun on "misrepresentation"). This appears to reference early 1910s debates over female suffrage and political representation, treating women politicians as inherently absurd. **Other Humor**: A Santa Claus cartoon complains about artists misrepresenting his appearance; separate pieces include Christmas verse and an essay on the futility of arguments. **Travel Ads**: Cuba and the Biltmore Hotel receive promotional space. The page reflects early 20th-century commercial culture and modest gender-politics humor typical of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Sy A Beautiful Inexpensive Gift Ip. 10 remember your friends at Christmas time with something that will make them remem- ber you time and again for months to come —to send a token of regard that is at once beautifuland useful—to select a gift that re- flects your own good taste and compliments he artistic appreciation of the recipient—yet costs but a nominal sum—send a deck or two of CONGRES PLAYING CARDS Con; Cards are made to be admired. Their backs are reproductions in full color of great canvases by master artists. Their edges are gilded like a rare volume de luxe. The: dainty French size, so reasonably priced that one does not hesitate to bu them. Many new backs now ready for the holidays. havea faultlessair-cushion finish. Some are in the small, hey are packed in telescoped boxes stamped in gold. Yet them and use sk your dealer, Bicycle Playing Cards—For general play, Favorites in homes and clubs every- where. Ivory or air-cushion finish. Club indexes. A Book for Everybody who Plays Cards or Wants to Learn—The Official Rules of Card Games, 300 games, 250 pages. Just revised. Send 1S¢ for a copy of this THE U.S, PLAYING CARD CO, new edition to Cincinnati, U.S.A. Toronto, Can. GIBSON NEW CARTOONS A BOOK OF CHARLES DANA GIBSON’S LATEST DRAWINGS This, the first Charles Dana Gibson book in five years, contains the cleverest of his recent drawings—those two most successful series, “Tragic Moments’’ and advice to the ‘‘Men- tally Unfit’? and much graphic satire upon the follies of the day. $2.50 net. Fifth Avenue New York Charles Scribner’s Sons EPUBLICAN: What will be the title of the lady elected to Con- gress by the Montana Republicans? Democrat: That's plain, missrepre- sentative. Santa Claus: THESE ARTISTS CEIVING THE PUBLIC ABOUT MY LOOKS. LL HAVE TO POSE FOR ONE OF AND PUT A STOP TO THEIR DE- Christmas Mother Goose “THERE was a man in our town,” Who was so wondrous wise; A Christmas present he received, Which caused him great surprise ; He clean forgot who sent the gift, And so, with “might and main,’ With Merry Greetings the next year He sent it back again. The Futility of Arguments AS no men are created equal, all ar- guments, if indulged in, must be carried on either with superior persons or inferior persons. Viewed in this way, the utter futility of all arguments becomes apparent at once. First, it is futile, of course, to carry on an argument with a superior per- son, because, being superior, he will have such complete contempt for your opinions that he cither will not listen to you at all or else he will listen with a patronizing smile and immediately dismiss from his mind what you have to say as not worth consideration. It is equally futile to argue with an inferior person, for if you have any- thing to argue about worth the time of aman of your standing and mental ca- pacity, then it is absurd to waste talk upon an inferior being who will not be able to appreciate it. Thus are dis- putatious people isolated from the world, but there is no help for it. Ge BILTMORE Where the social life of New York centers by day and evening CLOSE TO ALL THEATRES AND SHOPS CUBA.A WINTER PARADISE Title of a beautifully illustrated 64 page booklet telling you all about the enchanting island of Cuba sent on receipt of 3 cents postage. UNITED RAILWAYS OF HAVAN Frank Roberts, G. P. A. Suite 1123 Broadway, New York icbooks.com