Life — June 19, 1919 — page 7: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Ticket Chopper" - Life Magazine This page contains a poem by Josephine Hemsley about a female ticket-chopper during wartime. The poem describes a woman working at a transit station who processes tickets while the men go to war. Despite her steady, unglamorous labor—cooking, sweeping, waiting—she maintains her post. The satire appears to celebrate this working-class woman's constancy: while soldiers come and go, she remains, her contributions rendered invisible by the "ways of Nature." The illustration shows a leisure scene with children and adults by water, contrasting sharply with the text's acknowledgment of wartime separation and women's essential but unrecognized domestic and service work. The piece reflects WWI-era attitudes toward female labor during male conscription.