Life, 1924-01-17 · page 15 of 36
Life — January 17, 1924 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two satirical illustrations about domestic life and poverty. The upper cartoon depicts a chaotic household where summer heat causes discomfort—lips chap, radiators absorb moisture, and general misery ensues. It illustrates the "divine summer" of the wealthy versus working-class struggles. The lower cartoon shows a hungry child asking Mrs. Brown for food. The child explains he can't eat at home because "we only have three meals a day and mother don't allow us to eat 'tween meals." This satirizes poverty and food scarcity—the child is desperately hungry despite technically having three meals, suggesting those meals are meager or insufficient. The title's ironic reference to "roses and wine" (luxury) contrasts sharply with the grim reality of hungry children, mocking the gap between romanticized summer imagery and working-class hardship.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Summer of Roses and Wine No’ is the time of year when sum- mer begins to come into its own Rooms develop air passages open- ing directly on the Mer de Glace, water pipes take cold and can't breathe, the distance to be traversed between bed and open window increases in proportion to the drop in the ther- mometer during the night, moist lips chap almost as badly as dry lips, ra- diators get discouraged and give up window frames absorb moisture from the snow and shi u Divine summe There is no dust, no dirt, no perspira- tion, no heat, no humidity in mid- winter summer BLOF t yuh come back here widout no p Rurvus: Honey, yuh has a possum fot “WE'RE LOOKIN “HE AIN'T IN THIS HOUSE—COS “MRS. BROWN, WON'T YOU PLEASE GIVE ME SOMETHING To EAT? I'M “BUT WILLIE “CAUSE WE ONLY HAVE THREE MEALS A DAY AND MOTHER DON'T ALLOW US WHY DON'T YOU Go HOME AND GET SOMETHING AWFUL HUN TO EAT To EAT "TWEEN comicbooks.com