Judge — February 7, 1891 — page 18: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains a multi-panel comic strip satirizing a clothing transaction between a Jewish merchant (depicted with stereotypical caricature and Yiddish-inflected dialect) and an apparently naive customer referred to as "the Jay" (slang for a gullible rube or country person). The humor relies on period stereotypes: the merchant uses exaggerated Yiddish speech patterns while employing classic sales tactics—first quoting an inflated price ($11), then manipulating the customer down to $9, creating a false sense of getting a deal. The strip appears to mock both the perceived shrewdness of Jewish merchants and the foolishness of easily-duped customers. The title itself treats this as entertainment premised on ethnic/religious caricature, reflecting Judge magazine's casual use of such stereotypes in late 19th/early 20th-century American satire.