Life, 1921-11-17 · page 8 of 34
Life — November 17, 1921 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page features "The Letters of Alicia" by Robert Barnes Rudd, a satirical column. The illustration shows a group of young women gathered together, titled "Just Before the Big Game" with the subtitle "Our coach's final instructions." The satire targets the intellectual pretensions of women's athletics and education in the early 20th century. Alicia's letter mocks the trend of women receiving "final instructions" before sporting events while also critiquing contemporary women's intellectual pursuits. She dismissively references having abandoned subjects like Algebra and Geometry at Rosecliff, claiming she couldn't devote herself "entirely" to serious study. The humor plays on period anxieties about women's education and physical activities, suggesting women couldn't manage both athleticism and serious intellectual work—a common prejudice of the era.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Just Before the Big Game Our coach’s final instructions The Letters of Alicia. Robert Barnes Rudd No. IV EAR Child, | have been thinking lately how nice it is that Efficiency has “gone out” so, ever since the Germans began over- doing it so. But then I was always against it because, of course, it never did appeal to my type of mind, which is intellectual and not material the way Efficiency is. And besides, it all turned out so dreadfully bad for the soul. The winter I took a course in it I used to feel all spiritually stifled while they were teaching us how to clean out the icebox in the newest way—not that you could ever get the cook to do it. Any- way, it was all Theory and I’m so sort of practical and executive that I don’t seem to be able to respect anything that isn’t the way my own mind is—like Algebra and Geometry at Rosecliff. Not that I ever took Geometry, but while I was doing Algebra I had all the nervous strain of looking forward to Geometry, as it was almost as bad— Realization is as bad as Anticipation, as they say. And, anyway, I remember I dropped Algebra after a while and took up music—just sight reading so I didn’t have to prac- erro tise and could devote myself entirely to Psychology and Philosophy, which I was thinking very seriously of taking up at the time—but I didn’t because I was elected president of the Field Hockey Association just then and simply /iad to let some things go—because, darling, if you don’t, you just can’t make the most of your life at all. That's why at present I want mother to get a housekeeper so that I and she (mother has quite a good mind for a woman of her era) can have our minds free for the more brainy kinds of Thought. This I consider one of the most constructive ideas I've had for ages. You see, I try to have the general trend of my thought processes tend to build up Society rather than tear down. Perhaps I may even write up some of my ideas some day and give lectures and have disciples like Plato. I’d just as soon do it as not, although I’m not a Feminist or anything like that. My mind is really almost Masculine, which I suppose is the reason why I am much more drawn to Men Friends than Girl Friends, Affectionately, ALICIA. comicbooks.com