Life, 1926-03-18 · page 16 of 44
Life — March 18, 1926 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page presents a domestic diary satirizing upper-middle-class life. The cartoon depicts a woman at a window speaking to a man, with the caption: "Yes, I know that Grandma is old and feeble—but I think she should be made to sweep up her own cigarette ashes!" The satire targets the contrast between professed concern for elderly relatives and actual callousness. The diarist describes trivial domestic complaints—greengrocer errors, missing bathroom scales—alongside larger social observations about marriage, fashion, and household management. References include *Punch* magazine (subscription troubles), perfume imports, and Chicago establishments, suggesting 1920s-era upper-class preoccupations. The humor lies in the narrator's self-aware recognition of her own petty concerns and marital anxieties, creating gentle satire of privileged women's lives.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIFE 7 Frost's. To supper this evening ith did give us for a present the loveliest . , ae Georgian tea caddy that ever I saw in February Fatty this morning 1 did The afternoon gone in writing notes iny jife, a handsome gesture, me- ave a terrible dream in devoted to my affairs, one of which was 2Ist which my teeth fell out to stop my subscription to Punch, the one by one, and so great my relief to reason therefor being sheer weariness awaken suddenly and find it but a fantasy of the difficult business of getting it that I did arise at once and fare over out of its wrapper without dislocating to St. Bartholomew's for Lenten ser- a finger. A fair-sized thought, on top of Sam's having been holpen thrice to the tomato aspic. About. betimes, looking February into my household matters, 22nd and when I did behold the vice, wherefrom I derived much edi- from four on, Eloise Brown outrage of the greengrocer’s slip, 1 fication of spirit. Came home filled — bringing me a fine present ofaperfume — did weigh the order of endive upon my with a fine resolve to lead a more godly called Toujours Fidele and the news bathroom scales, a proceeding which life and spend the Sabbath in quieter that she has ordered a Chicago estab- caused my husband, poor wretch, to and nobler pursuits, so when I did lishment to send me some genuine rum — guffaw throughout the day whenever discover Sam and several of our cro- drops to put in my tea, and when I he thought of it, in especial as it nies sprawled on the library floor cast- have them I dare say I can persuade turned out that any error had been to ing dice with the fervor and vocabulary Samuel to d a sional cup our advantage, but I said nought, being of street urchins, I did withdraw to my nour Au a is with us. always content to provide him with own apartments with as much dignity Lily Dunham, the bride, did tell me amusement and a new topic of conversa- as I could muster, and it was well for that she has much more credit than she tion. Some argument, though, about Samuel later that he did present me can ever use at the various great jew the white frills which he does want with the ninety-six dollars which he elry shops to which she returned wed- me to wear around my neck and wrists, gained, for I was minded to rebuke ding presents, which I deemed silly forasmuch as wearing light chamois tim for such unseemly conduct. But — talk, and said so. Lord! I can imagine gloves through a soft coal winter in after all, it is my misfortune and not nought more wonderful than to be given — concession to his wishes would seem his fault that we live so near his club, carte blanche at Black, Starr and to be almost enough. It is a strange thing that a man’s dictation about his wife's raiment should always be based on some pleasant memory from his in- fancy or adolescence, and never by any chance coincident with current fashion. Still, if a wife be not fair to her husband, what price to her that every woman in the room knows that the shirring at her shoulder line added fifty dollars to her sempstress’s bill? To Marge Boothby’s for cocktayles this afternoon, finding there Molly Smith and her ten-year-old boy, and the child did quaff half of adry Martini which his mother set down before any- body did perceive him. He is begin- ning early to be a rounder, said Sam. Yes, returned Molly, when I complained of my so many solitary evenings in the country last summer, he remarked that my loneliness could be easily ob- viated by not making him go to bed so early. To a great party this night at Charlotte and Louis Bishop's, and I did lose nine dollars at cards, but Sam gained eleven, which set him up un- reasonably, Baird Leonard. Open-Handed your rich uncle reckless with his money?” “Yes; the last time I visited him he “YES, I KNOW THAT GRANDMA IS OLD AND FEEBLE—BUT I THINK SHE SHOULD BE bought me a railway mileage book and de TO SWEEP UP HER OWN CIGARETTE ASHES!” told me to go as far as I liked.” comicbooks.com