Life, 1920-02-26 · page 26 of 40
Life — February 26, 1920 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three satirical pieces mocking early 20th-century attitudes: **"What Some Wives Think They Know"** (top): A humorous list of wives' supposed logic about husbands' behavior—a no-win scenario where any action gets misinterpreted as evidence of wrongdoing. The cartoon caption references soldiers (D.S.C. = Distinguished Service Cross) and Liberty Loans, suggesting post-WWI context. The beach illustration shows men labeled "not profiteers, Bolsheviki, nor strikers"—mocking contemporary fears of labor unrest and radical politics. **"The Poet and the Maiden"** (middle): A poem by Clinton Scollard satirizing modern women who reject romantic sentiment. The maiden criticizes the poet's verses for being too coherent and logical—she expects "real" poetry to be obscure and incomprehensible. **"Always Hope"** (bottom): A brief sketch mocking wealthy patients who visit doctors seeking fashionable diagnoses rather than actual medical help. Overall, the page satirizes gender relations, literary pretension, and social anxieties of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LIFE: What Some Wives Think They Know [F hubby gets home early he is planning doing something wrong. If he gets home late he has done something wrong. If he takes her to a thirty-five-cent show he is stingy If he takes her to a four-dollar show he is trying to atone for some sin of the seventh magnitude that he has not yet reported. If he likes her favorite movie star he is planning to meet and probably elope with that beautiful and mysterious stranger. If he doesn’t he is ignorant and inartistic. If he lounges around the house he is lazy. If he is busy around the house he is fussy and nervous If he complains about the high cost of living he is be- grudging her the necessarics of life. If he doesn’t complain he is a spendthrift and is headed for the poorhouse. If he is sentimental toward her there must be something wrong with him. If he is not sentimental toward her he is a brute Is he entitled to a D, S. C.? He is, but there are t many of him. It would require another Liberty Loan Just be good to him and realize that when he smiles has done something. “WELL, ANYWAY, THEY'RE NOT PROFITEERS, BOLSHEVIKL . NOR STRIKERS!” HE MILLENNIUM: When a girl who has never bi kissed by a man kisses a man who has never kissed The Poet and the Maiden H chanced, on a time not long ago, To mect a maid with her checks aglow. (For chance will do strange things, you know!) And under the shade of a linden tree They got to talking of poesy, And he confessed that he sometimes wrote ; Then, “Oh,” she cried, “I should dearly dote To hear a poem, if you'll only quote So what could he do, since her eyes were blue As the vernal skies when the sun shines through A rift in the cloud-rack, but recite A lyric that lilted along as light As a warbler does in its morning flight! But when he had finished she murmured, “ Why,” As she cast upon him her April eye, “Do you mean to say that’s poetry It rhymes, and it seems to have some sense; It isn't dull, and it isn’t dense; And it doesn’t jump or bump or crawl, And I don't call it a poem at all!” Clinton Scollard. Always Hope HE fashionable physician walked in, in his breezy way, and nodded smilingly his patient. “Well, here Iam, Mrs. Adams,” he announced. “ What do you think is the matter with you this morning?” “Doctor, I hardly know,” murmured the fashionable patient languidly. “ What is new?” WHO 1S THE SLENDER, OLIVE-SKINNED CHL 1 JUST NAME OF FARWORTH, 0% SOMETITING LIKE THAT.” “OH, YOU MEAN GRACE HARWORTH , THAT THIN GIRL WIT! THE SALLOW COMPLEXION comicbooks.com