Life — August 28, 1919 — page 11: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "An Absentee" - Life Magazine Cartoon This cartoon satirizes a husband's marital desertion through humor. The caption reveals the scenario: a woman (Crassford) is suing her husband for divorce on grounds of desertion, and when asked if he abandoned her, Crashaw responds that he didn't exactly abandon her—he simply "joined a golf club." The joke mocks the priorities of wealthy leisure-class men who valued golf so highly that they effectively abandoned domestic responsibilities. The woman, dressed fashionably with a small dog, walks through a public square near a grand classical building (likely a courthouse), while the man in the left foreground appears indifferent. The satire targets both masculine neglect of marriage and the golf culture among affluent early-20th-century men.