Judge, 1887-12 · page 22 of 45
Judge — December 1887 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains multiple satirical pieces about Christmas observance. The main poem "Queried the Jester at Christmas Time" presents sentimental irony: a jester performs merry Christmas entertainment while privately grieving absent loved ones—lost hands, lips, and dancing partners he once knew. It's melancholy masked by professional merriment. "The Ruling Passion" satirizes misplaced priorities: a dying invalid, facing his own funeral, is more concerned with fashion than mortality. "Christmas Reflections" offers cynical humor about the holiday's commercialism and inevitability—Christmas is inescapable and expensive, like unpaid promissory notes. References to "hocking" (pawning) overcoats for gifts mock working-class financial strain. The lower cartoons depict modest, struggling people ("Not from Tiffany's," "Bound to Commemorate the Day") attempting Christmas observance despite poverty, their speech rendered in period Irish-working-class dialect. The satire critiques Christmas's emotional and financial demands on common people.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
CHRISTMAS JUDGE QUERIED THE JESTER AT CHRISTMAS TIME. ~ \) UERIED the jester at Christmas time, é “What shall I make for a Christmas rhyme ? ‘What shall Task of my pencil's skill, So that the people may laugh their fill? This is the time for gifts and glee, Something the world demands of me, What shall I make for a Christ- mas thyme?” ied the jester at Christmas me. O. but the jester's jovial face, Full ofa smiling, careless grace, Touched (for mockery) with an air Of puzzled wonder, and half despair, Had made you sure that his song would be Shaking with musical jollity Then, can you tell why thoughts like these Burned in the heart that no man sees? What if the jester’s hand should miss Hands that aforetime lay in his ? What if the mistletoe bring to mind Lips that aforetime his might find ? What if the dancing, swift and sweet, Lack the music of some one’s feet, One to whom he had quite revealed All that he had from the world concealed ? THE RULING PASSION. InvaLin (fo sister)—* Tilly, dear, if Tdie what dress will you wear at my funeral?” ° Sistex (sadly) The purple bugle trimm Iyvatap (/eebl> jeyous) “Thank g Idle thoughts—and they need not move— CHRISTMAS REFLECTIONS. What does a jester know of love? Mry..C. L. Roddy is being boomed as the inventor of a number What does he know of pain and loss of things used in kindergarten work. The name brings our Hopes that shatter and cares that toss ? memory bai -days with a pronounced thump. Louder and longer than all the rest Rang his voice in a Christmas jest ; Quips and cranks, with a merry chime, Laughed through the length of his Christinas rhyme. Mrs. George Archibald, Christmas is to New Year's day as the bank-cashier is to Car The Y vart, and one follows the other as the night the day, or as a tin can the tail of the dog to which it is attached, A girl is casily induced to get under the mistletoe if she likes you, Christmas is to the rest of the three hundred and sixty-five days as the note made payable months is to the man who makes it. It comes but oncea year, and cannot very well be avoided. (Some one will protest against this paragraph just as the note will be protested.) It is unwise to “‘hock” your overcoat in order to get your best girl a present. An empty pocket-béok is a virtue on the day after Christmas. ye hh iy NOT FROM TIFFANY'S. McGur ( finishing preparations)—** It's th’ ould woman "Il be surprised. It’s near heart-broke she’s been since our ould nanny fill over Tramr (soho has seen better days)—“ This ain't exactly my idea of Vule-tide MeNulty’s cliff'an’ broke th’ back of her." festivities, but I've got ter do somethin’ out 'r respect for old times.” BOUND TO COMMEMORATE THE DAY. comicbooks.com