Life, 1921-05-26 · page 8 of 36
Life — May 26, 1921 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The page contains two distinct pieces: **Left: Cartoon and caption** depicting a social scene where a man and woman discuss bridge playing. The Major's line suggests wealthy women had leisure time for card games while their husbands worked, and that gossiping about neighbors was considered the main social benefit. The humor targets upper-class female socialization and presumed superficiality. **Right: "The Tragedy of Credulity"** by Strickland Gilman—a short humorous story about a man who believed everything he read. He fatally misinterprets a bathtub label ("cold," meaning temperature) as instruction, filling it with literally cold water and dying from the shock. The satire mocks excessive literal-mindedness and credulity toward printed information. **Bottom right:** A satirical prediction list of "Within the Next Five Minutes," humorously cataloging common domestic annoyances and social mishaps—poking fun at everyday middle-class life.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1 HOPE YOU DON’T MIND PLAY The Ma ON THE CONTRARY ‘G BRIDGE WITH OTHER MEN'S WIVES, MAJOR. 1's THE ONLY OPPORTUNITY I HAVE TO KEEP UP ON THE GossIP OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD. The Tragedy of Credulity ONCE upon a time there was a man who believed all he read. He had had many disappointments and numerous bitter moments of near-disillusionment in his young life, but he had stubbornly stuck to his optimistic attitude with regard to the veracity of the printed word. In time this man became seized of enough of this world’s goods to enable him to build a house of his own. In establishing the bathroom fixtures the plumber got the spigot-labels transposed, Where the word “hot” should have been, he put “cold,” and vice versa, One day the credulous man proudly disrobed to take a cold plunge in his own bathtub. Locating the spigot labeled “cold,” he turned it on. He ex- perienced some surprise when he noted that steam arose from the tub. But he looked again at the word on the spigot. No, he was not mistaken. The water was cold. He felt considerable pain as he sat down in the cold water, but after taking another confirmatory glance at the word on the tap, he gritted his teeth and stayed with it. Gradually, as the water rose, he began to doubt for the first time the truthfulness of something he had read. At last, with a look of deep disappointment on his face, he said: “T suspect my policy of believing everything I read has led me into a foolish error.” These were his last words. Strickland Gillilan, Within the Next Five Minutes— wrong numbers will be given on telephones. knocks and rings will be made upon the wrong doors. bores will worm into the inner sanctums of busy persons, jazz phonograph records will be turned loose in apart- ment houses, unsuccessful touches for money will be made. marital balls and chains will be soldered upon mas- culine ankles, children will eat just one piece too much of something or other, women will declare that Mary Pickford “is sweet for anything !"" men will wish they had their feet—one or both—upoa brass rails. women will powder their noses a ghastly white, leav- ing the rest of the face red, pink, yellow, blue or green as the case may be. husbands will forget to kiss their wives good-by when they leave the house. wives will resolve to make it hot for their husbands when they return, OME: where the voice with the smile will have to be listed among the latest spring styles. 'S fashions seem to be working around to the point comicbooks.com