Life, 1920-04-01 · page 18 of 60
Life — April 1, 1920 — page 18: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical poem attacking the fur industry and the women who wear fur coats without regard for animal suffering. The illustration shows a spring landscape—the setting where traps are set. The poem uses dark irony to expose the cruelty behind fashionable fur garments. It depicts two scenarios: a white trapper killing an ermine in the northern wilderness, and a boy trapping a muskrat by a creek. Both animals suffer grotesquely in steel traps (gnawing at their own legs), yet the wealthy women who wear these furs do so with "joy and pride," indifferent to the animals' agony. The repeated refrain—"laugh as you wear your furs"—mocks ladies' obliviousness to the violence their vanity requires. The characterization of the boy as "kind when he wasn't in search of game" adds bitter sarcasm about selective morality. This reflects early 20th-century animal welfare activism, criticizing both commercial fur trapping and consumer complicity in animal cruelty.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
33 ee AcT 1 ENTEK SPRING Che Kind Lady’s Furs r JHE white wolves belled on the ermine’s trail ‘Way up in the heart of the heartless north The ermine must haste ere his strength should fail; In spite of the danger, he hurried forth He saw some food in a tempting cache; He hastened to gulp it and hurry on— Two jaws of a demon of steel went “ Smash!” And the animal's hope of life was gone! A white man came ere the wolves might come, And he carried that ermine’s peltry home. Milady she wears it with joy and pride, Not caring a whit how the ermine died! (He had tugged at the trap for hours—ha, ha! Had struggled with all of his powers—ta, la! So laugh as you wear your furs, ma ché Laugh as you flaunt your furs!) The small boy placed by the meadow creek A steel trap held by a long, strong chain. For there the muskrats, he knew, would see Their nightly food—might they seek in vain! \ muskrat came, and the jaws went “Crunch!” And the night—ah, the cruel night was young! He gnawed at his leg—'twas a hideous lunch !— But the terrible trap-jaws clung and clung. The little lad at the dawning came (He was kind when he wasn't in search of “ game”); He ripped from his victim the velvet hide, For milady’s wardrobe must be supplied! (He had writhed in the grisly grip—ha, ha! Nearly gnawed off his leg at the hip—la, la! So merrily wear your furs, :na ché Merrily wear your furs!) Strickland Gillilan. comicbooks.com