Life, 1918-12-05 · page 54 of 76
Life — December 5, 1918 — page 54: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This *Life* magazine page from WWI era satirizes upper-class women's wartime hypocrisy. **"Purely Imaginary"** mocks a wealthy housewife who congratulates herself for strict patriotic sacrifice—demanding her domestic helper follow government food-conservation rules, work cheaply, avoid phone use, and accept restricted freedoms. The joke: the housewife is entirely *imaginary*, as is her servant's compliance. The text reveals her actual exception: she alone believes she deserves exemption from universal wartime sacrifice because of her "defensive position." **"Sherman Was Right"** (bottom left) shows soldiers refusing a ride in an overloaded car with civilians—a quip referencing General Sherman's famous statement that "war is hell," suggesting civilian life remains frivolous even during conflict. The sidebar "What Christmas Should Stand for This Year" lists patriotic virtues (conservation, restraint, sacrifice), directly contrasting with the imaginary woman's self-deception about her own patriotism. **The satire targets**: class privilege masquerading as sacrifice; women's selective application of wartime rules; domestic worker exploitation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Christmas Life Purely Imaginary HE imaginary woman at the head of a household, who was doing so much good war work that she was con- fronted by the absolute necessity of having a domestic helper, spoke thus to the imaginary domestic helper : “Are you ready to conform strictly to the government rules about the con- servation of food? “Tam.” “Will you see that nothing is wast “Twill.” “Will you refuse to use the tele- phone during my absen k nobody into the kitchen for meals, and work for fair wages that I can afford to pay?” “Twill” “Will yon keep all of your ments, go out only on your nights, and not be offensively indepen- dent just because you know that Iam a defensive position because of ginary woman at the head of old turned to the ii head of the imagit office and smiled an imaginary smile of trust and confidence. “JT ocan imagine,” she said, “how other patriotic women all over the country must be at a great disadvan- tage in their efforts to help win the war, But as for me, I have an imag- inary idea that J am the one and only ption to this universal Fat Party in Super-Twelve: WANT A LIFT, Boys? Chorus of Doughboys: No-0-00-0, THANKS! SHERMAN WAS RIGHT Doping Tt Out ILLICUS: It is hard to determir why some marriages are failures Cynicus: That's right. Sometimes it’s because the wife is suspicions, sometimes because she isn't What Christmas Should Stand for This Year Careful conservation of candy Help for hapless humanity Restraint of reckless rioting Increased interest in individuals ifice for soldiers and sailors. Teaching of timely thrift. faking miserable mortals merry. Answering all appeals for aid. Sending somebody something sensi