Judge, 1889-07-27 · page 16 of 16
Judge — July 27, 1889 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This three-panel cartoon satirizes how education transforms working-class youth into something their parents find unrecognizable and objectionable. **The narrative:** A rural father (Mr. Southmeadow) reluctantly sends his son "Johnay" away for education, viewing it as necessary despite the sacrifice. A year later, the educated son returns as a refined "dude" in fancy dress. The father is horrified—he now wishes his son were still the rough country boy who would fight and roughhouse with strangers "jest fer fun." **The satire:** Judge mocks both parental anxiety about social mobility and the stereotype of education producing effete, dandified young men disconnected from working-class masculinity. The irony is that what the father wanted (education for his son) produces exactly what he despises (a genteel "dude"). The comic captures late-19th/early-20th-century class tensions about whether education elevated or emasculated working-class boys.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
comicbooks.com TIME'S CHANGES. Mr. SoutuMeapow—“ It’s hard, Sary; but we owe th’ boy an Mr. Jonannes Fospick Soutumeapow (a year /ater)—“ Aw! fawther.” Mr. Soutumeapow, Sr.—“ Mother, git th’ gun. If Johnay wuz here he'd give that dude a lickin’ an’ chuck him over th’ fence, jest fer fun.” eddycation, an’ I s'pose he’s got ter go.”