Life, 1923-09-13 · page 5 of 36
Life — September 13, 1923 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical poem compares modern women to Eve, suggesting they share similar weaknesses for material temptation. The speaker—apparently a melancholic man—contrasts Eve's fall through forbidden fruit with contemporary women's susceptibility to fashion and consumer goods: "A new fur or some snappy shoes / Can absolutely change my views." The illustrations show fashionably dressed women with a serpent motif framing the text, explicitly linking Eve's biblical temptation to modern consumerism. The satire targets both women's shopping habits and the emerging consumer culture of the era, suggesting that what once was spiritual corruption is now merely commercial manipulation. The tone is cynical mockery of female materialism disguised as philosophical comparison.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING By Baird Leonard 'HAT nonchalant attempt of Eve's To fashion garments out of leaves Was not, as you have heard, inspired By shame at being unattired. For I am pretty sure, you see, That Eve was more or less like me— Or say instead, if you prefer, That I am more or less like her. Whenever I am feeling blue, What is the first thing that I do? Do I give way to futile tears? Or rush for comfort to the seers, Reading what Hegel, Kant and Hume Set down as antidote for gloom? Or lift mine eyes unto the hills, So famous for relieving ills? Do I go forth to meditate The causes of my wretched state In some secluded garden spot Alone with nature? I do not. When happiness seems so remote That I’m inclined to cut my throat, Nothing, dear boys and girls, like that . . . I go down town and buy a hat. A new fur or some snappy shoes Can absolutely change my views ; The latest cry in Poiret twill Gives me a strange, renascent thrill ; Armed with Boulanger’s smartest purse, I chortle at the universe. A peace abides in raiment glad That Paul or Plato never had. Some bitter, for the moment, cup Must have moved Eve to get dolled up . . . Our mercantile statistics show She started some*hing here below. g comicbooks.com