Life — August 29, 1918 — page 29: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon contrasts two female figures: a "Boston Angel" (identified in the caption) and an implied New Yorker. The Boston woman appears demure and conservatively dressed, while the other figure is depicted as a fairy or winged creature in revealing clothing, engaged in what appears to be golf or a similar recreational activity. The joke plays on regional stereotypes: Boston was associated with Puritan propriety and moral conservatism, while New York represented modern, looser social attitudes. The Boston woman's comment—calling the New Yorker's behavior an "unexpected pleasure"—suggests sardonic surprise at encountering such uninhibited conduct. The cartoon satirizes the cultural clash between traditional New England values and the more liberated attitudes of Jazz Age New York society.