Life, 1920-03-25 · page 26 of 40
Life — March 25, 1920 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**"The Sin of Attractiveness"** (left column): This essay by Hayden J. Price critiques religious hypocrisy and social prejudice. Two sisters attend church—one plain and dowdy who performs conspicuous church work; one attractive and well-dressed who is genuinely generous. The community condemns the pretty sister as "frivolous" while praising the plain sister's "solid virtue," ignorant of the facts: the attractive sister buys her own clothes while supporting the family; the plain sister's mother subsidizes her wardrobe. Price argues that society falsely equates beauty with moral weakness and mediocrity with virtue, blaming "Mrs. Grundy's prejudice" (a term for narrow-minded social convention) for rewarding dullness. **"Golfer's Ballade for Early Spring"** (right): A whimsical poem by Clinton Scollard celebrating spring's arrival and golfers' renewed enthusiasm for the sport. **"Resigned"** (bottom right): A joke cartoon showing a man telling his doctor he needs a tonic because shopping no longer brings him pleasure—likely satirizing wives' spending habits and marital resignation.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
562 The Sin of Attractiveness HERE are two of them —sisters. One is a painfully regular attend- ant at church. She is plain of face and fig- ure, has no charm or grace. The other is pretty, interesting, and tastefully, though quiet- ly, dressed. So the plain one with a kind of petulant perverseness has gone in strong for church “work. The attractive one also attends church and is a fine, generous nature. But she is pretty and dresses attrac- tively, whereas her sister is plain in person and mind and is negligent of her dress. So the good people of the community, especially of the church, with minds broad as a razor edge, con- sider the pretty one to be frivolous and worldly, while they regard the other one as having solid virtues. It happens that the pretty one buys her owr. clothes from her savings left after helping support the family, The other one doesn’t support the family so well, yet the mother, in an effort to equalize the attrac- tiveness of the two sisters, buys clothes for the plain one. But the plain one doesn’t know how to wear clothes well, so she doesn’t forfeit the good opin- ion of the community, for they regard this lack of grace as proof that she hasn't fallen from grace. Thus public opinion in the circle in which these sisters move extols the petulant and perverse sclf-neglect of the one as a “solid virtue,” and condemns as frivolity the at- tractiveness of the other. Yet public opinion knows nothing of the facts in the case, being content to be influenced by its narrow and un-Christian dis- approval of Beauty and its bigoted and misplaced sympathy for dulness. .So often is a premium placed on medi- ocrity. So often is a charm accounted a defect through Mrs. Grundy’s preju- dice, and dulness glorified for its own dull self. Hayden J. Price. “LIFE: Golfer’s Ballade for Early Spring Now that the downy catkin shows, And fuzzy crowfoot leaves ap- pear, Now that the deep and drifted snows Are but a vision that is drear, Back floods the joy of “ yesteryear,” The dreams the golfer dreamed of yore, For soon his eager ear will hear Ring down the links the cry of “Fore!” Out comes his “kit,” and all his woes Are trifling things at which to sneer; He tingles to his very toes What time he views his brassie dear; No more his mashie doth he fear, A “cuppy lie” he dreads no more, For soon, elated, will he hear Ring down the links the cry of “Fore!” The exultation that he knows Imbues him, despite scoff and jeer; Upon the parlor rug his pose Has all the science of the seer Who sees into the future clear How he'll go out and smash his score, What though he fail? He still will hear Ring down the links the @y of “Fore!” Envoy Good golfers, dwell ye far or near, What happiness ye have in store, For soon each longing ear will hear Ring down the links the cry of “Fore!” Clinton Scollard, Resigned “WHEN are you going to have your vacation?” “Not going to have any.” “But I thought that you were going to spend a month with your wife and the children at the seashore.” “Tam.” “ DOCTOR, I THINK I NEED A TONIC. THE LAST TIME I WENT SHOPPING I DIDN'T ENJOY SPENDING MONEY A BIT” comicbooks.com