Life, 1923-12-06 · page 51 of 84
Life — December 6, 1923 — page 51: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The top cartoon depicts two figures fleeing from a spiky, menacing Christmas tree in a snowy landscape—likely satirizing wartime scarcity or rationing during WWI, when resources were diverted to military use. The main feature is a comedic time-table narrative following Mr. Ruffles on a streetcar from 59th to 72nd Street. It satirizes male hypocrisy regarding women's equality: Ruffles refuses to give his seat to a standing woman, rationalizing that women now have voting rights (recently granted), so they don't need chivalry. He internally debates whether to act "gentlemanly" versus selfish, finally offers his seat, but is coldly rebuffed—she's only riding a few blocks. He then stands awkwardly while another man immediately takes a seat, leaving Ruffles both morally uncomfortable and practically worse off. The humor mocks men who weaponize feminism to avoid courtesy while resenting modern women's independence.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
a ! wt! tr founds wie Newgs os ‘wan THE LAST CHRISTMAS TREE SURRENDERS Time Tables Mr. Ruffles Gives His Seat to a Woman 59™ ST.—Mr. Ruffles boards car. Drops nickel in coin box after giving conductor hard look for nearly closing him in door. Hurries to only vacant seat. 60th St—Sees woman enter. Hopes she won't come to his end of car. Opens newspaper and begins to read. 61st St—Woman stops in front of him. Mr. Ruffles looks surreptitiously over paper to see if any other men are going to offer her seat. Sighs as he sees they are all reading, too. 62nd St—Thinks that woman needs rest no more than he does. Remembers they have the vote. Decides to continue reading and maybe some one else will save him trouble. 63rd St—Has a feeling that he has seen woman before. Wonders if it could possibly be a friend of his wife's. 64th St—Guesses not. Finishes page of his paper. Re- reads several items. 65th St—Of course he doesn’t know. her face again, though. 66th St—Wonders whether she would notice. it if he looked up. 67th St—Decides to take a chance. Relieved to find she is stranger but unfortunately meets her gaze. Would like to see 68th St—Looks hastily down to his paper again but thinks he had better do the gentlemanly thing even if other New Yorkers in his vicinity seem to have forgotten how. 69th St—Rides another block enjoying virtuous glow in thinking how much politer he is than others. 70th St.—Rises and offers woman his seat. She looks at him coldly and replies she is only riding a few more blocks. 71st St—Still stands uncomfortably holding strap, hoping she will change her mind. 72nd St—Gentleman in checked suit who has interestedly listened to discussion takes seat himself. Tracy Hammond Lewis. Wild Oats "THERE has been considerable dispute as to when is the best season to sow wild oats. To our mind it is not so much a question of when as how. And perhaps it isn’t so much a question of how as it is of where. When all is said and done, no doubt it remains a question of why. There’s always an answer to the why, but it generally comes too late to be more than an explanation. comicbooks.com