Life, 1918-10-24 · page 28 of 34
Life — October 24, 1918 — page 28: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This comic dialogue features two infants discussing mothers as if they were extinct historical creatures, mocking contemporary attitudes toward motherhood during WWI-era America. The satire targets two shifts: First, **wartime social changes** that pulled women away from home—many entered the workforce or engaged in political activism (the "pre-picket period" references women's suffrage efforts). Second, **modern detachment** from traditional maternal roles, portrayed as the infants casually dismissing nurturing as outdated biological function. The joke's bite comes from **ironic reversal**: the babies speak like jaded academics analyzing a dead civilization, treating maternal love and child-rearing as quaint anthropological oddities rather than natural instincts. This reflects contemporary anxieties that war, industrialization, and women's liberation were eroding "natural" family structures—a conservative critique wrapped in absurdist humor.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Horrors of War HE purist’s heart is wrung! To-day the only, tongue Is slang of field and trench And Coney Island French No bargain sale can thrive That isn’t called “a drive”; “ Defens is all “ barrage” “Deceit” is “ camouflage.” And Buddie greets his pal With, “ How is your morale?" eIrthur Guiterman, Purely Biological A park, Any, in the Scene: Time: “e) future, i. Persons: Two in- fants, IRST INFANT: Where is mother to-day more Srcoxp Inrant: I haven't the slightest ide First INeaxt: I canght a glimpse of her going out somewhere this morn- ing, but I don’t know where. Srconp INFANT: your And yours? Does she ever pay the slightest attention to you? First Ixraxt: Never! The story that the physiological function of the mother was to nurse her o spring, to watch over it, to guard it from danger and illness, and in short to. devote most of her time to it Real Estate Agent GENES, A BEAUTIFUL FNAMPLE OF CYCLOPEAN ARCHITECTURE | ALL MOI CONVENIENCES; FIVE MINUTES TO THE STATION ; TWENTY MINUTES TO ATHENS, WHAT bo you SAY? YES, MR. DIO- THE HIGH COMMAND was practice for mothers to teach their offspring to lisp a prayer cach evening at their knees to some cnown being Ixrayt: How extremely biological! May I ask during what ze was this—the pliocene or glacial period? First Inrant: It was, I understand, during the pre-picket period. This period was characterized by a custom called “watchful waiting.” — Women gathered in large numbers hefore an even Srcoxp imposing white house. Srcoxp INraxt: For what purpose? Ixrant: Now don't think me But it was for the privilege of being permitted to deposit a printed paper in a box at certain periods de ignated by the politicians, The women with the idea rest in their young. Ah, yes. That was discovery that the bsurd fase’ lhecame so ated that they lost Seconp INPANT: before the great brains of babies could be fully devel- at the end of a year by a psyche process which now seems simplicity itself. Why, I presume tl you and I will obtain our college rees in another month, First Ixpaxt: Without a doubt Oh, by the way, [haven't told you of abit the women had in former days. Th most absurd affection for their youny Secon Ixraxt: Loved them? Well, in a way. It was a sort of attraction which existed mother and enother curious betrayed the First INFANT between child—perhaps very difficult for us to understand now But mothers, under this spell, per formed extraordinary deeds. It v apparently, a sort of animal affair, often highly pathetic, Secoxp Inpant: How peculiar! Hello! Aren't these our mothers com ing now, walking towards us arm in arm? Ob, I say. Let's try something Why not try an experiment upon them? (Continued on page 611) comicbooks.com