Life, 1922-11-02 · page 17 of 40
Life — November 2, 1922 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**The Cartoon:** This sketch depicts a generational clash between a mother ("Parent: Helen") and a fashionable young woman ("Flapper"). The mother asks if the daughter ever reflects; the flapper quips that she reflects "every time there's a mirror"—a joke about vanity and narcissism. The "mater" (mother) appears exasperated by this frivolous response. **The Context:** This satirizes 1920s "flappers"—young women known for rejecting Victorian propriety, wearing short skirts, and prioritizing appearance and pleasure over serious thought. The cartoon mocks both the flapper's superficiality and the generational tension between tradition-minded parents and rebellious youth. **The Arithmetic Section:** These absurdist math problems parody contemporary issues: union labor restrictions, prohibition (bootleggers watering down liquor), income taxes, and subway overcrowding. They're satirical complaints about modern bureaucracy and regulation rather than genuine math puzzles—reflecting public frustration with post-WWI American life.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Tt 3 4 ‘oo a A: y? Parent: Helen, do you ever stop to reflect? Flapper: Every time there’s a mirror to reflect in, Mater. Questions in Simple Arithmetic \ B and C agree to do a piece of if gwork. A can work twice as fast as B, and B twice as fast as C. Working together, how long will it take them if D, the walking-delegate, stops around at the job and tells A and B the union will fine them if they work faster than C? \ golfer takes the following shots: Cue drive, a whiff, a brassie, two midirons, two mashies and three putts. What score docs he put down? if three goes into thirty ten times, how many times does a man go into details about the bass he caught at Lake Wantagoansit ? A commuter has kept his watch at railroad time. If the 5:10, Eastern Standard, is due to leave 4:10, Day- light Saving, how much time has he to catch the train if his watch has stopped? A man makes $17,000 in a year. How much income tax does he pay? Work out these examples: Add: Ne plus ultra Haig and Haig Subtract: None the less truthful Congress from nothing Multiply: Trial by jury Crossing Times Square Divide: Sodium bicarbonate 2%% by volume A bootlegger has a case of the real-old-stuff. He takes one bottle around to let his customers sample it and receives orders for 2 cases, 5 cases, 6 quarts, and I case, respec- tively. How much will he have to water down the real-old-stuff to make deliveries? How much will he have left? If a subway car has a capacity of ninety, how many can get into it? Nine divided by two is an opera- tion in short division. Four is the quotient and one the remainder. What kind of division is a surgical operation? Identify the patient and remainder, if any. What is an improper fraction? Why doesn’t the Society for the Suppression of Vice do something about it? C.K. V.R. comicbooks.com