Life — January 26, 1928 — page 12: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Gay Nineties" - Explanation for Modern Readers This satirical cartoon mocks outdated 1890s social conventions about women's modesty. The caption quotes "Grandma Sawyer" claiming that no "real lady" would cross her knees—implying that doing so was scandalous. The joke is that by the time this was published (appears to be early 1900s), fashion had changed; women could now wear crossed-knee skirts without losing respectability, making the old rule absurd. The accompanying article humorously extends this satirical premise, listing absurdly specific dining times for various restaurant scenarios, poking fun at excessive etiquette rules generally. The overall message: social conventions that seemed serious in the 1890s now appear ridiculous, and modern readers should recognize how arbitrary such "rules" were.