Judge — December 16, 1882 — page 16: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This Judge cartoon satirizes a new Sunday closing law, likely from the 1880s-90s. The page mocks enforcement of stricter Sabbath regulations through multiple vignettes: The top panel shows "Barbers and Bootblacks in for it"—working-class tradesmen arrested for Sunday labor. "Cyrus and Jay" (likely prominent businessmen) are "tackled for looking at Saturday's Quotations" (stock market reports). Lower panels depict the law's absurd consequences: a "Dime Museum Arrest," a "Poor Man from Fifth Avenue couldn't get his Sunday Dinner," and what appears to be selective enforcement. The satire targets the law's impact on the working poor and immigrants while wealthier citizens might escape consequences—criticizing both the rigid moralism of the Sunday code and its class-biased application.