Life, 1923-08-23 · page 15 of 36
Life — August 23, 1923 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The cartoon depicts a music lesson scene with the caption: "Don't you know the difference between the minor and the major scales?" / "Yes, the minor sounds worse than the major." This is a simple humor piece playing on a child's misunderstanding of musical terminology. The joke conflates "minor" (a musical mode) with "minor" (meaning lesser/worse), suggesting the child thinks the minor scale is literally *worse* sounding rather than simply a different musical form. Below is "Mrs. Pep's Diary," a gossip column featuring dated entries (August 15th, 17th, 18th) discussing social matters including politics, stock investments, and dinner party etiquette among the upper class. The entries reference contemporary concerns like political administration and financial markets, typical of early 20th-century satirical magazine content.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“DON’T YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETW THE MINOR AND THE MAJOR SCALES?” “YES, THE MINOR SOUNDS WORSE THAN THE MAJOR.” A All the discourse now is of Coolidge and ugust a bos : 4 A whether his administration will succeed itself, 16th this statesman and that being analyzed as possible candidates, but Lord! I do hope and pray, even though I be a Republican, that our citizens do choose Henry Ford for President, for then the journals will be full of mirthful news and the breakfast tables of our land will ring with laughter, a fine thing for the national morale. But Samuel, when I did divulge my notion to him, chided me for a zany and asked me what Europe would think of us should we elect Mr. Ford, whereto I replied that it would matter naught what Europe thought forasmuch as she owes us too much money to bespeak her mind in public....To a draper’s this day for some table linen, and whilst I was choosing, a woman came up eside me wearing the most seductive perfume that ever I smelled in my life, and I was at some pains to keep from asking her its name. But I did not do so, having always held that there are two things which one female should never ask another: the scent she uses and the name of her dressmaker. Emmy Billings, whom I have not seen for ten years, to luncheon with me, nor should I 17th have bidden her had I recalled in time her great dullness. Lord! Her talk was so stupid and platitudinous that I was at my wits’ end to attend suf- ficiently to place my Yeas and Nays properly, nor did I August do aught to improve the dialogue, having learned long since that when a s begins by asking me if I do not think that life is what we make it, it is as well to give up with no struggle soever. But suddenly Emmy made men- tion in her monotonous flow of her adroitne: ing the future with cards, whereupon I whisked her away from the board, barely allowing her to finish her ice. And she did hold me spellbound with her prophecies until tea time, hinting at great wonders to be unfolded. I do always believe these soothsayers, too, albeit my own state is felicitous enough to need no improvement, for which I thank God—and Sam. in forecast- August _ early through the goings-on of my husband, poor wretch, who takes regular 18th occasion these d to advise me as to the investment of the handsome legacy recently come to me from my Aunt Sally, since he knows well of my extrava- gant temperament through many sorry experiences. He is all for having me put the remainder of it into the stock which has gone up eight points since I bought it against his protest, and he discoursed at length on the beauty and security of a favorably fluctuating stock, but I told him that I preferred adding to my string of pearls, thinking it more satisfactory to have my money around my neck than to read about it in the newspapers. The stock I bought was yeast, and it seemed only natural to me that it should rise. Baird Leonard. comicbooks.com