Life, 1922-12-28 · page 9 of 37
Life — December 28, 1922 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a single-panel cartoon and a poem, both about marriage. The cartoon shows a man and woman at a table with other figures in the background. The man says he needs coffee to stay awake; the woman asks why he won't have some. The joke appears to satirize how marriage changes romantic attention—the implicit suggestion being that her company no longer keeps him engaged (he needs caffeine instead). The poem "Explanations (After an Authoress Has Married)" reinforces this theme. It contrasts the romantic gestures before marriage (valentines, love letters, poetic lines) with domestic reality after marriage (cherry pie instead of poetry). The humor lies in the husband's frank admission that marriage has replaced romance with practical domesticity and household concerns. Both pieces satirize the disillusionment that can follow marriage, particularly targeting changes in affection and effort between spouses.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
He: Coffee always keeps me awake. She: Why don’t you have some? Explanations (After an Authoress Has Married) EFORE we were married and you were mine, I sent you many a Valentine, And I used to write a verse or two, To tell you that my heart was true. And I would say that the starlit sea Tield a secret message for you from me, And a soft little wind that blew from the south Trought a kiss from my lips to press on your mouth. ] said these things if the day was fair, With a promise of spring-time in the air, But if St. Valentine’s Day was cold, And wrapped itself in a garment old, I used to have a line like this: ‘The snow on your cheek is but my kiss, And wherever you walk in this ice-green land, My fingers are nestling in your hand. But now we are married and you are mine, I never send you a Valentine; I look at my typewriter sitting there, Wrapped in its cover from light and air, And I think I'll write you a line or two, To tell you that my heart is true. So I hunt for a word to rhyme with “tell,” And just as I find one I hear the bell, And the butcher and baker are at the door, And my line is lost forever more! Oh, now we are married and you are mine, I wish I could send you a Valentine, It would make me happy as well as you, And tell you that my heart is true. But I'll make you a cherry pie instead Of finding a word to rhyme with “red.” And you'll probably eat it and say that I Make better verses than cherry pie! M. C.E. comicbooks.com