Judge, 1887-01-01 · page 6 of 16
Judge — January 1, 1887 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This cartoon satirizes a raffle conducted by African American men at a grocery store on New Year's Eve. The auctioneer "Snoring Johnson" hawks a guinea hen to the participants, using exaggerated dialect and high-pressure sales tactics. The satire targets both the participants and the broader culture: the working-class Black men gambling on trivial stakes, the moral hypocrisy of "Old Chocolate" and "Hooter Jones" (a church deacon) who decline to gamble while eagerly observing, and the slick auctioneer's rhetorical tricks to pressure holdouts into buying tickets. The heavy use of minstrel-show dialect and the depiction of petty gambling reflects period racial stereotypes common in Judge magazine. The "moral dissertation" reference to Hooter suggests satirical commentary on religious pretense masking vice. The cartoon reinforces era-specific prejudices while ostensibly mocking lower-class behavior across racial lines.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ON NEW-YEAR'S DAY. y, black cake, old wine, On antique side-boards, wreaths of pine Surmounting panels rich and rare, And maidens and debonair, With faces more or less divine ; And gilded youth who seek to shine As blaxe fellows, still inc A fond few linger on the stair, But Bacchus is the 1 RTS EN IFPI IIT Hiape- THE RA T O'RA | say | A CONTEST BY THE COLORED COTERIE FOR A GUINEA HEN GIVES OLD CHOCOLATE | ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY. ““W’'o wants toe buy de la ance an’ leff de raffle proceed ¢” The scene was O'Rafferty’s grocery. The time, New The speaker Snoring Johnson, who stood on a uail-keg, holding a plucked Guinea hen aloft by the neck. enteen Africans, fifteen of whom had spent seven cents ntitling them to throw dice for the hen, formed an interest “Gem'n,” continued Mr. Johnson, ‘‘a Guinea hen's meat am ez gamey ez pa'tridge. Dis hen am wuff nine shil'n. Ton'y want seben cents mo’. W’o er de nex’ man? Laik ez no de hol'er ob de las’ ticket ull make de bigges’ frow. The two who had not taken chances were Old Chocolate and Hooter Jones. The former explained that he ‘* wouldn’ ‘courage gam'lin’” by investing. Still he was willing to look on and gather points on which to base a moral dissertation. Hooter, a deacon in the church of the United Sons of Zebedee, SAYINGS OF MRS, PUGWASH, The hen stops laying get dear. It is the lawyer who always stands to reason, most ti most work, Tt ws the poker player whi ies rything new under the sun, we ane told ; but this is no ex- cuse for sending a chest- nut to the editor. Seientists tell us t washing the head will » the hair fall out. ¢ no bald-headed anarchists, ‘A SURE SIGN. “What makes you think that Jones is mar- inquired Sr “* Becaus seemed to have a suspi- cion as to the ownership of the Guinea hen, whose proportions he neverthe- less lovingly studied as he asked ““Wha’ yo’ git dat ar Guinea hen, Mistah John- sing?” “Dat er a impedence query—in oddah words, a leadin’ queschun, Mis- tah Jones,” replied the auctioneer, ‘an’ am nud- der heah er dar, I offah yo’ a chance at dis hen fo’ seben cents, an’ yo’ make a insinewashen in- stid oba bid. W’en yo! walks intoe a groc’y stoah, Mistah Jones, toe trade, yo’ doan’ ask de groc’yman wha’ he stole dat sugah er w'o he’s dun robbed ob dem he | does yo’? Fuddahmo’, de fedders er offen dis yer hen, an’ w’o’s gwine ter ‘dentify a hen wid de fedders off ? W'o'll scoop dis las’ ticket 7” Hooter counted out ply, ‘see he has joined RURAL EXPLORER (first visit to the city)—“ Well, by gosh! if ther hain't a real live Sandy seven cents, di covered the club.” Clus, Tl jus’ shear around here and watch ‘im tackle a chimly.” | gradually in various of comicbooks.com