Life, 1924-05-15 · page 43 of 46
Life — May 15, 1924 — page 43: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the romanticization of mundane business life in early 20th-century American culture. The article mocks how salesmen and office workers—particularly bookkeepers—have begun treating their dreary daily tasks as grand adventures comparable to exploration or warfare. The satire centers on a bookkeeper describing his workday to his wife: installing a card-index system and receiving a check from Grand Rapids. He inflates these tedious activities into epic narratives, comparing himself to explorers like Cortez or Balboa. His wife, eager for excitement, fantasizes about becoming a stenographer to experience similar "adventures." The humor lies in the absurdity of finding heroic meaning in clerical work and the era's "Go-Getting" business culture that elevated commercial success to romantic status. The remainder of the page is a Clicquot Club Ginger Ale advertisement, unrelated to the satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The New Romance Business has grown romantic. The rise of the sect of Go-Getting has car ried its erstwhile dreariness along to the fine level of adventure. A contract surpasses a novel in interest, and a ound the circuit with a sample case has all the elements of a hunting trip in the Canadian wilderness. Can you not see the modern book keeper when he arrives home after a day of stirring trials? A stalwart man is he, upstanding and true, whom r ing can agitate “What adventures to-day?” asks his wife, after her brave husband has set- tled himself comfortably “Ma he answers. “Man He pauses, and his partner in life waits patiently for the thrilling tales he knows will soon be forthcoming Her brave man silently on his pipe a time, musing the excitements cote Atlas he seals Let Clicquot Club “We began installing a new card- ” he . mre tweathes ns | Ginger Ale sparkle over wife, enthra “It is fascinating.” the bookkeeper the dry spots admits. “Row after row of oblong cards, cach one exactly the same in size and all alike in color. They are px Off goes the stopper, and the amber-gold tively thri There is an adventy Clicquot Club Ginger Ale sparkles into in every one of them your glass and spills wetness all over “And then we received in the mail a your throat. Keen, cool, lively, glowing, it swirls over the parched dry places, full of zest and refreshment and ginger-splash just to handle it. I was swe away fragrance. with the same surge of ecstasy that No wonder the educated palate likes must have overpowered Cortez—or was it. No wonder everybody backs that it Balboa ?—when he stood on that peak liking by liking it also! It’s the tang of in Darien, Conn, A marvelous expe- ginger, the lime and lemon flavorings, nee.” a. the carbonated Clicquot spring water “How much was the check for?” his that do itl wife inquires cela . k Do you wonder why millions of bottles even-cighty-three,” the bookkeeper } ) S answers. are spilled down happy American throats? “But the most exci { Do you wonder that they all like it? ment we got agair Order by the case from your grocer, druggist, or confectioner, check from Grand Rapids—think that—all the way from Grand Ray Why, it made me feel like an explorer cap had a power beyond any human. It FHE CLICQUOT CLUB COMPANY was almost omnipotent : MILLIS, MASS., U. S.A out and take money or goods. worth—just that small thing an words thereon—it w worth seven @ thousand dollars—if it could be lected.” “Marvelous,” says his wife. “Mar- velous. It must be glorious to be in | PRONOUNCED KLEE-KO. business. I should love to be a stenog rapher. Then I could watch the fas- cinating keys as they jumped up under my touch and formed words...words ...words. I should love to be a stenog- rapher.” a § Never mind,” replies the bookkeeper Clicquot Club consolingly, “not all of us can have the SARSAPARILLA great adventures, Women are born, I What a sweet, rich < " / suppose, for the commonplaces of life.” goodness! Cream it up 1 I ) Oo ( | ¢ zp Tike coffee. That's called JOKM > Black Cow comicbooks.com