Life, 1923-11-01 · page 10 of 41
Life — November 1, 1923 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two separate pieces of satire: **Top cartoon**: A humorous exchange at what appears to be a haberdashery or hat shop. A young woman arrives carrying her headgear rather than wearing it—a fashion faux pas. The manager asks if she needs a large or small hat; she responds she needs "something to fit a size six hand," implying her head is unusually small. The joke satirizes both women's fashion choices and possibly their intelligence. **"A Cooling Rain"**: A short story satirizing marital domesticity and gender roles. It depicts a newlywed husband (Si Bascomb) whose domestic life has become mundane—involving chores, housekeeping duties on "swampy roads," and his wife's practical concerns about dinner timing. The satire targets the contrast between romantic courtship and the tedious reality of early married life, with particular emphasis on wives' management of household logistics. Both pieces mock early-20th-century social conventions and relationships.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A EE AAR er Perth The Girl (who invariably carries her headgear instead of wearing it): 1 WISH TO GET A HAT. The Manager: LARGE OR SMALL HAT, PLEASE? The Girl: OH, SOMETHING TO FIT A SIZE SIX HAND. A Cooling Rain HEN Si Bascomb git married he done the darndest thing iver I heerd tell uv. The reason I come to hear tell of it was I had it from Jake Seabury’s brother's wife down to Witchford, her half-sister’s husband's folks wuz some kin of Bascomb’s, and she wuz tellin’ 'bout it up to Joel Starbuck's wedding t’other day. It seems after Si wuz married up to Parson Ridgeley's he druv’ Eunice down to East Witchford; it seems they'd fixed up rooms to go to housekeeping in t’other side uv Ephra’m Jennin’s house, on that swampy road yer come to after yer turn off ‘fore yer git to the school house, at the fork o’ the road goin’ towards the Centre. Well, it seems Si told his mother he’d go back up and do the chores for ’er same as usual that evenen’, so ‘long ‘bout five o'clock he left Eunice gitten’ supper and druv’ back home to his mother’s. Well, after he done the chores and he set talkin’ with his mother it started in t’ cloud up and rain and she "lowed he'd better wait a spell an’ she give ‘im his supper, and while he wuz a-helpin’ her with the dishes it come up a regular hum-digger, thunder and lightnin’ an’ all the fixin’s, and his mother ‘lowed he'd better wait till mornin’ as there warn’'t no let-up to it. Well, the next mornin’ he druv’ over carly and Eunice wuz out to the porch, lookin’ mighty queer, when he druv’ in the yard, an’ Si calls out in that darned old drawl of his, “Thought likely yer wouldn't hardly expect me when it stormed.” Beatrice Herford. Correct Ingredients for Newspaper Account of a Football Game capacity of stadium. Estimated gate receipts. Extended discussion of methods of rival coaches. “The stands were a blaze of color.” Names of celebrities and prominent alumni present. Vivid description of traffic congestion. Names of cheer leaders. Speculation as to All-American candidates. “Outplayed, but not out- gamed.” Touching references to’ stars of former years. (Optional) Score of game. S. K. EATING THE problem of the modern mother is to have dinner on time for a cook who wants it at five, a son who wants it at six, a daughter who wants it at seven, a husband who wants it at eight, and herself that doesn’t want it at all. comicbooks.com