Judge, 1886-04-03 · page 6 of 16
Judge — April 3, 1886 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the power dynamics between shoppers and salesgirls in late 19th-century department stores. The article argues that shop assistants have become tyrannical, exploiting their position to demean customers—reversing traditional class hierarchies where wealthy women should hold power. The central complaint: affluent female shoppers now must dress elaborately and curry favor with working-class salesgirls to avoid rudeness and contempt. One cartoon shows a woman telling her relative she must wear diamond ear-rings while shopping to prevent salesgirls from "snubbing" her. The satire mocks both groups—the servile shop-girls' newfound arrogance and the absurd situation where ladies of leisure must appease retail workers. "Mrs. Jones's Patent Register Attachment" likely references a contemporary device or social phenomenon related to this shopping-class conflict, though specifics are unclear from the OCR text.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
6 JUDGE. THE WORLD-WEARY BELLE. THE PERILS OF SHOPPING~THE SALES-LADY AS A TYRANT—THE PATIENT WOMAN WHO SUBMITS RATHER THAN MAVE | A SCENE—TRUNKS, DRESSES AND PARASOLS. opportunity—for spring shopping and si maki jaded with dissipatic y,hatred and mali to the simpler p tifications of squabblin J in every newspaper, is o1 the survival of the t, such as philosophers tell us we se arch in the existence of the m was the si upon the sc tional shoppe ny wi flourished in’ her full glory al form of g or the house of lords. — The entrance of her own sex n of doom for that tradi half the things in th I down before she bought her spool of ¢ nd could ne RULY the quiet of the lenten season is an invaluable | personal rights wh eties of the "best | are all sures, the | believe th with her dress: | th rand provoking the tyranny of the shop-girl That the talk about the sutferings of sales-people at the hands of the shopping sisterhood still goes on, s illustrative thereof are to be ni strikcin > death of a know, ment I should say that this servile subservie | unwarranted, presui wd inselen inditfers root of 1 pneu) abuses both national an threatens the health of the usefulness of the state; ther too and the r Words, we But 1 don't 1, this is so much what is thineskinn WwW aatter g > gang-plank, and we bonnet we want to ual entertainment to al wants, We all submit t nd as the bull under th ductor or a purveyor of tape, evolves a start ling number of the latter article. guise of service of a ‘street MRS. JONES'S PATENT REGISTER ATTACHMENT. | ritea int ha n metropolitan | sh » her spool of cotton must be sought anit be that the release in the summer at a counter entirely devoted to that cc s T say, when her sisters months from the necessity of impressing crest was soon lowered and her | sho | proud (metapho: the scene as the opposing party her haus eal) banner Tt was a nipand-tuc and the natural advant of the sit uation were on the side) of the shop-girl Stimu- Fy ed by herexample, the male | f the species plucked up cour age also to first defy and then brow-beat the once impervious purchaser, woman knows her life in her| hand and leaves her liberty be | hind when she goes shopping. animity The mercy and ma Zithat should charact conqueror inure not to the ize the |shop-girl; rather, she is of the disposition that ties a victim to | the chariot wheels or that hits him when heisdown, Maybe the chance masculine visitor to this column thinks this is only rhetoric; but indeed the] incredible part would come in if I began telling actual occur. rences illustrating these too, | too truthful generalizations. | An imposing dame who mmonly equal to} iking care of herself was re- tly seen arraying herself in inimitable splendor for a morning walk “Why in the world are you getting yourself up in that vulgar style for this time of day” said an observ a blind relation enj privilege of being diss she pleased. ‘Tam going shopping,” was the reply, *‘and I must do what | 1 can to lessen thi ntempt | |which the shop-girls at best | heap upon me. Without my |diamond ear-rings they snub me too bitterly.” Mora ig) 4 She WI | looks un is notin my line, but if it were | ss aes oe 2 By his forgetfulness he drinks and registers three. rirl has to do with the increasing taste MRS. JONES'S PATENT REGISTER ATTACHMENT. comicbooks.com