Life, 1920-11-04 · page 22 of 60
Life — November 4, 1920 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the severe shortage and mistreatment of domestic servants in post-WWI America. **"The Housewife's Dream"** depicts an employment agency scene where a wealthy housewife interviews job applicants with absurdly unreasonable demands: cleaning cellars, washing windows, scrubbing piazzas, doing all housekeeping while she claims to be a "nervous invalid," plus childcare for nineteen children—all for $28/month and minimal time off. When an eager applicant offers extra mending work, the housewife dismisses her as "talking too much" and demands another candidate, illustrating employers' callous exploitation and entitlement. The accompanying sketches mock upper-class obliviousness: a husband's apartment won't be available until 1923 due to existing tenants, and neighbors feud over broken cat-feeding promises during vacation. The satire critiques the vast power imbalance between employers and desperate workers, the impossible workloads expected of servants, and the arrogant assumption that applicants should be grateful for exploitative wages and conditions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Housewire: Silence! Every third Saturday you will clean the cellar oughly; second Tuesdays all windows are washed, and fourth Mondays I expect you to scrub the piazzas. I live in a de- serted village seventy-five miles fr Néw York, and will give you three hours off every other week and pay you twenty- eight dollars a month. Oh, yes, one thing more! You will do all the housekeeping, as I am practically a nervous invalid and never lift my finger. Apeticant (so eager for the place that she is almost in tears): Oh, it sounds grand, mum; just the place I have been looking for, and I would like to say that in my odd moments I can do the mend- ing, and am handy in the garage in case the chauffeur leaves, or— Hovsewire (interrupting, calls to Clerk and waves Applicant away): Take her out! She talks too much. I know she would drive me mad. Send in another. (Clerk advances and leads now sobbing Applicant from room.) Elizabeth W. Klots, Looking Ahead USBAND (to wife, over phone): Good news, dear. I'm pretty well played out, tramping all over town, but I've found an apartment at last. Wrre (ecstatically): Oh, Horace, you darling! Do hurry home and tell me all about it. “There's no great hurry. We don't move in until 1923. The present tenants have a two years’ lease.” SALUTE, SISTER! More Deadly Than Lending Money The Housewife’s Dream NORTH: What's the matter with you and the Smiths? Wi Nothing! They promised to feed our cat while ‘mployment Bureau; Clerk seated at desk, Enter . ‘ we were on vacation! Housewife, Clerk springs up and pulls out chair. Housewire: I want a cook. r a Cuerx: Certainly, madam. We have three hundred and ninety-two waiting in the other room. Please be seated while I call one. (Opens door, through which surging mob can be seen. Beckons and returns with Applicant, who, advancing, cringes before expectant employer.) Hovusewir Sit dow (Applicant crouches on edge of chair while Housewife inspects her through lorgnette.) I want a cook. Appticant (in frightened whisper): Yes, mum. Hovusewire: I have nineteen in family. Appticant: Oh, I like large families. In my last place there were twenty-seven. Hovusewire: Be quiet! J will do the talking. I expect you, besides doing all the cooking, on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays to do the washing; Thursdays, Fridays and Satur- days the upstairs work and ironing, and Sundays take out eight of my children, the youngest of whom is six months, Appuicant: I just love children. comicbooks.com