Life, 1920-02-19 · page 19 of 48
Life — February 19, 1920 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct humor pieces typical of early 20th-century Life magazine: **Top cartoon**: A domestic scene satirizing servant-employer relations. A mistress greets her "new cook" while guests arrive. The cook's thick dialect ("Don't mention it, sure I'm as fond of a wake-end in th' country as anyone") uses Irish-immigrant stereotyping common to the era's humor—poking fun at working-class speech patterns and attitudes. **Middle cartoon**: A silhouette of a man's feet up, lazy on furniture, with dialogue about surviving a week alone. The joke relies on domestic helplessness—a man cannot manage housework without a woman. **"To a Smiling Maid" poem**: Oliver B. Capelle's sentimental verse celebrates cheerful, accessible women over aloof "statues" maidens, valuing genuine warmth over classical beauty ideals. **Bottom cartoon**: A husband jokes about eating restaurant food while his wife was away because home dishes were dirty—again depicting masculine domestic incompetence as humorous. The page's recurring theme: gender roles and class stereotypes presented as comedy.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
| j | J Mistress: WOW vO YOU bO? sO Good OF YoU TO COME TO SEE Us! The New C DON'T MINTION IT, SU "MAS FOND AV A WAKE-IND IN TH’ COUNTHRY AS ONE. Do you think Reaper an honest doctor? Co a Smiling Maid s: Well, he told me to eat plenty of butter he- : Pp = I'd paid his bill OT to the fairest of r femininity Do I indite an impassioned appeal; CW? oN Se Maidens are many with look of divinity, Sull I ref at their altars to kneel. Here on a sphere that is worldly, terrestrial, I've no desire a goddess to seek: Give me the maid who is far from celestial, But who can sinile every day of the week! Statuesque maidens abide nearly everywhere, Perfect of profile, of humor devoid Worshiped by tremulous suitors who never dare Venture a kiss, lest their love be annoyed! Down with idolatry! It's a frivolity! Give me a girl who is only unique In that she’s blest with an unfailing jollity, In that she smiles every day of the week! HOW DID YOU GET ALONG WHILE 1 WAS AWAY, TOM?” Oliver B. Capelle. WELL, I LIVED HOME FOR ND THEN WENT TO A <= presiele T requires a great deal of inexperience to be beyond th “GoopNEss! WHY DID YOU CO TO A RESTAURANT?” ann ES & Srcat Cea! Ob mexpenence:to be: beyond the “HAD TO. ALL THE DISHES WERE DIRTY.” reach of worry. comicbooks.com