Life, 1922-09-14 · page 26 of 40
Life — September 14, 1922 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the early 20th-century trend of corporate and civic "designated weeks"—promotional campaigns encouraging Americans to focus on specific activities (like "Fireless Week" for fuel conservation or "Prune Week" for eating prunes). The cartoon's protagonist rebels against this manufactured enthusiasm, declaring personal autonomy over his calendar. He mocks the invasive nature of these campaigns (joking about "Eversharp Mop Week") by establishing his own weeks: "Bounce the Baby on My Knee Week," "Be Kind to My Wife Week," and "Carry Out the Furnace Ashes Week." The satire targets two things: (1) corporate manipulation of daily life through organized campaigns, and (2) the underlying admission that without designated time, ordinary family duties get neglected. The "Monroe Doctrine" reference (an isolationist foreign policy) humorously positions personal time as a protected territory. The page also includes unrelated content: a poem about nature observations, and announcements of a picture-titling contest—typical magazine filler of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIFE My Monroe Doctrine for My Weeks LI see this '§ ” ‘Deep B realbinp Meck ROM now on, I am the master of my weeks, I am the captain of my calendar. Up to now I have been falling in step with Prune Week, Rake-up Week, Fireless Week, Glad Week and all the other suggested wecks, but now I stop. I won’t be weeked by outsiders. From now on, I start my own weeks. Fundamentally, the week idea is sound. Concentration is not to be criticized. But we must be men about our weeks and not submissive jelly-fish, Nobody with a spine made of anything stiffer than checked ging- ham will allow himself to be told: “This is Eversharp Mop Week!” His reply to that should be: “The Hell it is!” One’s weeks are priceless jewels, say I. Why, gosh, weeks are what life is made of. Did you ever stop to think of that? No? Well, where have you been? “Eversharp Mop Week!” sakes! What I have done, personally, is to take the good of the week system, and leave the bad—always a fine way to divide things up, I think. I have named my own weeks. No outsiders allowed. For example, I have a “Bounce the Baby on My Knee Week.” Of course I may bounce the baby at odd times during the year, hit and miss, but during this particular week I make a serious point of it. I know that normally, being a busy man, I do not bounce the baby as much as Ishould. It has worried me. Many’s the time that I have given the baby a mere lick and a promise of a bounce. And I am one who believes that a man gets no more out of his Land Bo i pvt family than he puts into it. We can not invest too much of ourselves in our family life. And I have a “Carry Out the Fur- nace Ashes Week.” And a “Be Kind to My Wife Week.” And other weeks. Each week of the fifty-two I concentrate on some- thing. Of course if I happen to show kindness to my wife on Ashes Week or Baby Bounce Week, it is all right, no harm done, but my wife knows positively that she is going to get kindness at least one week a year —September 17th to 23rd this year. You get the idea, I am sure. Why not try it yourself? Why not? A good way to start would be to set aside a week to think it over and start it. Why not set aside next week as “Laying Out My Year in Weeks Week”? Why not? But there I go’ making weeks for somebody else! It’s human nature! D. H. Winners in Title Contest To Be Announced in Our September 21st Issue Over one hundred and seventy- five thousand titles were received in Lire’s Picture Title Contest which closed on August rst. We have been working at it steadily since the Contest opened in June, but the tremendous rush of the closing weeks has made it necessary to de- fer the decision until this month. Careful consideration has to be given each answer on its individual merits. The competing titles are now in the hands of the judges for final deci- sion, and we shall make the an- nouncement of the winning titles in the September 21st issue of Lire. The Editor. The Poet HE sun rides happy on the waves That leap to catch its smiling glance. mottled silver!” raves— She similes at every chance— And though at poetry I'm flat, I'll say it’s pretty nice at that. “Like Phyllis Some graceful sloop out near the sky Has swung to face some farther reach. “A slender swati!” is Phyllis’ cry; Well, not exactly cry—say, screech. Her tones have an annoying ring But still it’s an attractive thing. The main where Vikings fiercely fought And high adventures always rile; Says Phyllis sweetly, “Have you thought, When we are gone abide?” I think, instead, that sea and soil Are beauties that chance words can spoil. "twill still J.K. M. Questions on American History wis the Boston Tea Party held outside the three-mile limit? Who said: “Surrender in the name of the Great Jehovah and_ the Eighteenth Amendment”? Who won the War for Independ- ence? What was the use? Originally the idea was to add to the flag a star and a bar for every new state. When did they decide to do without the bars? Who were: (a) Old Taylor, (b) Hunter Rye, (c) Five-Star Hen- nessy ? What was the recipe for Eli Whit- ney’s cotton gin? Explain the expression South.” What is a solid? Who said “Rum, Romanism and Rebellion”? Will there ever be an excuse to say it again? The Civil War was followed by “carpet-bagging.” What activity fol- lowed the World War? Who was it, while the American soldiers were overseas, that got the idea, “Least said, soonest amended”? C.K.V.R. “Solid A SELF-POSSESSED woman is just the modern detour for spinsters. comicbooks.com