Life, 1919-09-18 · page 14 of 48
Life — September 18, 1919 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Life magazine page contains two distinct pieces: **Top illustration**: A domestic comedy scene depicting a hostess struggling to organize a dinner party. The caption reads: "Girls, I'm up against it. Dinner is only half ready and the cook is packing her trunk. I need volunteers." This satirizes the common early 20th-century problem of domestic servants leaving employment suddenly, forcing middle-class housewives to manage without household help—a real social anxiety of the period. **Bottom section**: A poem titled "Utopia" by Oliver B. Capelle, accompanied by cartoon vignettes labeled "Old Friends in New Garb." The poem praises idealized working-class domestics with virtues like loyalty and contentment. The accompanying cartoons appear to humorously contrast this fantasy version with the reality of servants' actual behavior and demands. Together, the page satirizes the gap between employers' expectations of obedient servants and workers' actual independence.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Hostess: GIRLS, I'M UP AGAINST IT. DINNER IS ONLY HALF READY AND THE COOK IS PACKING HER Are bashful fellows, Would rather die than ask a man ra work to do; oyster-shell_ massage And créme-de-menthe shampoo! Utopia has chaperons Whose hearts outshine their spleen They do not try their very worst 1 uth feel mean— ps, as Charles the First The houser Deserve e¢ They never think of New fields in which to graze; And they rejoice when they receive A modest yearly raise! Oliver B. Capelte. TRUNK, 1 NEED VOLUNTEERS OLD FRIENDS IN NEW GARB comicbooks.comiyy