Life, 1917-07-19 · page 11 of 40
Life — July 19, 1917 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**The Main Illustration** ("The Willowbys' Ward") depicts a domestic scene where a professor consults an architect about building plans, while women observe. This appears to satirize wartime gender dynamics. **"Men and Women in War"** argues that communities must reorganize women's roles during wartime. The text insists men must lead strategic planning while women execute tasks under male direction—framing this as "mutual service" where women's "initiative" will emerge under stress, and their contributions will win the war. **"The Selfish Woman"** is a poem by Evelyn Louise Evcrett criticizing women who prioritize personal beauty and vanity over wartime duties. **The Context**: This reflects WWI-era debates about women's wartime responsibilities while maintaining traditional male authority and female subordination.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
9l — €- €oste= CINCOLN THE WILLOWBYS' WARD. 7 HAVING DECIDED TO BUILD, THE PROFESSOR CONSULTS AN ARCHITECT Men and Women in War RY community in the country, no matter what its size, will be shaken down by the war, if, indeed, it has not al- show-down, the main E; ready had the experience. In the fi problem is to adjust the relationship of the women to the men. Women will have to do new and hitherto unaccustomed kinds of service. Their new duties will give them a sense of practical independence which they have never felt be- fore. On the other hand, the men of the community not drafted will be called upon to readjust quite largely their attitude toward the women. It will be a mutual service, in which the strongest qualities inherent in each sex will sup- plement the others. As steady workers where the direction las first been determined, women are superb. The responsi- bility, the planning, the business organization—all these things belong to the men. The women, under this guidance, cannot only be counted upon to produce the results, but it is a matter of history and experience that, under stress of war, they soon learn to take the initiative them-, selves. The winning of our war will be due quite largely to them. The Selfish Woman ‘OUR love's a mirror where I see myself T turn, Catch at each angle some new hidden charm, So beautiful, Narcissus-like, I yearn Above the crystal. In your thought of me Discovering such frail, exquisite bliss, I live but to behold myself—yet what, rave you to do with this? Leolyn Louise Everett. sfigured, glorified. 1 turn Poor pleading heart, THE EFFECT comicbooks.com