Life — January 19, 1922 — page 3: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This page contains two distinct pieces: **Top:** "When You Are A-Journeying," a sentimental poem by Mabel Cleland Ludlum about separation and faithful love, decorated with cherubs—typical of Life's literary content. **Bottom:** A humorous cartoon illustrating "Solomon's Advice to a Young Man About to Be Married: 'The first hundred wives are the hardest.'" The joke invokes the biblical Solomon, famous for having numerous wives, to mock marriage difficulties through hyperbole. The cartoon depicts what appears to be a bewildered groom surrounded by caricatured figures (possibly representing wives or marital chaos)—soldiers, portly characters, and other comedic types in period dress. The satire suggests that marriage is an overwhelming, chaotic endeavor, with the Solomon reference implying even extreme polygamy might be preferable to dealing with a single wife's demands. This reflects early 20th-century anti-marriage humor common in satirical magazines.