Life, 1919-10-09 · page 14 of 48
Life — October 9, 1919 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a humorous essay about romantic financial struggles, illustrated with two cartoons. The main narrative describes a man trying to marry a woman named Petúnia while living on minimal means—he's considering converting an abandoned lunch wagon into a honeymoon residence and eating only one meal daily. The top illustration shows an aerial/fantastical scene, apparently depicting "the winner of the great international race to reach Mars arrives at his goal"—a science-fiction reference unrelated to the main story. The lower cartoon shows a domestic scene of people at a table, captioned "Find the boy who is wishing that he had his mother's fly-swatter with him"—a typical early 20th-century humor setup about family dining situations. The page satirizes courtship economics during what appears to be a period of financial constraint.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
628 Diary of a Perplexed Lover mind being supported—in part, at by Petunia’s father, if 1 thought he could really do it, He confided to me privately to-day that he was living on his principal and expected to bl up in about a year. Of course he desperately desirous of my marrying Petunia. He wants to be sure she will be taken care of, and is rather banking on me. (Vain hope!) I fancy he is not worried about his wife. She can support herself as a motor mechanic or cook, But Petunia is so fragile. J am crazy to marry her, but how can we live on my hundred a week? 1 must get a new suit and a pair of shoes this month. To do this T shall have to eat only one meal a day 1 looked at an abandoned lunch wagon this morning with a view to fit- ting it up as a residence for Petunia and me. We could use it first for our honeymoon, and then move it about without paying rent. ‘The wheels rather wobbly, and the interior will naturally have to be reconstructed, but it seems to be rather a life-saver. We could cook in one end and live in the other, I could fit up a shower bath in the corner, and attach the hose to any adjacent hydrant. Wonder how local fire departments would feel about this? Must inquire I have had to give up the lunch- THE WENNER OF THE GRE MT INTERNATIONAL KACE TO REACH MARS wagon. It was only a bright: dream festtecaes the trouble was when I came to get the estimates, Before we could have had the first day’s board and lodging, it would have taken my salary for six months to fix it up. Petunia thinks we might manage with an army tent. She says the government is practically giving them away, in- cluding the equipment. That might do for summer, bat it must be fairly near the office, and [ don’t quite like the idea of passing the winter on Long Island in a tent Petunia’s a dear girl, but somewhat visionary \nuther conference with Petunia’s father to-day. He hinted that on a hundred a week we should be able to get long. He even went further than this—said we could all live together—doubtless at my expense What the old wy doesn’t quite see is that [ have to give up about ninety 4 week in order to make a hundred. If | could get along FIND THE moY WHO TS WISHING THAT Ub HAD tts without clothes or shoes or food we might manage. My MOTHER'S PLY-SW VETER WITH ttt woss expects me to keep my end up. He says there's a let