Life, 1917-12-06 · page 61 of 92
Life — December 6, 1917 — page 61: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This poem satirizes the dramatic social upheaval caused by women entering the workforce during World War I. **The Setup:** The speaker laments that traditional domestic servants—Bridget, Nora, Ann, Susan, Maud—have vanished from kitchens and pantries. **The Joke:** These working-class women haven't disappeared; they've taken on wartime jobs: operating farm machinery, working as hotel staff, serving as traffic police. Similarly, upper-class women (Mabel, Barbara, Gwendolen, Gladys) have abandoned leisure to drive ambulances, work in garages, and take industrial jobs. **The Reassurance:** The final stanza provides comic relief: despite this unprecedented female workforce participation, "Mother" remains home managing rationing ("eatless day," likely referencing Hoover's food-conservation program) and domestic duties. **The Satire:** The poem acknowledges radical wartime changes to gender roles while ultimately suggesting traditional motherhood persists as society's stabilizing anchor—a somewhat patronizing reassurance to anxious readers about fundamental social order.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
WHERE are the maids of yester- week— Bridget and Nora and Ann? Susan and Maud we vainly seek, Kitchen and pantry are bare and bleak, Arid the frying-pan! Nora has dropped her broom and mop To “man” a mowing-machine. Nimble Ann is a hotel hop, Maud is a uniformed traffic cop— Mighty of port and mien. Christmas Life FOR VALOR ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE All's Well Where shall we look for Mabel and Bab In a world so strangely sexed? Garbed in a “slicker” of olive drab, Mabel is driving a t. Barbara's calling xt!" Gwendolen dwells in marble halls— Part of the camouflage— Running a car with mirrored walls. Gladys, in grimy overalls, Toils in the town garage. Who is to cook and dust and darn? Who is to brew and bake? Bridget’s repairing the barn, Susan is busily skewering yarn, Each for her Country’s sake. neighbors’ Who—? But, O Man, your fears allay! For with a smile or sob Hoover-ing on as best she may, Cheerfully planning an eatless day, Mother is on the job. Jennie Betts Hertswick, comicbooks.com