Judge, 1891-07-11 · page 6 of 16
Judge — July 11, 1891 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Judge page mocks two distinct targets: **Top section ("To Dress a Romance"):** A tongue-in-cheek recipe for melodramatic romance novels—the wildly popular penny dreadfuls and serialized fiction of the era. It satirizes the formulaic plotting: virtuous maiden, dashing hero, lurking villain, shadowy struggle, pistol shot, happy reunion. The satire suggests these stories were predictable literary products designed for mass consumption. **Main cartoon ("An Encounter on Cobb's Corner"):** depicts street harassment. A man approaches an unaccompanied young woman waiting for a streetcar, using transparent manipulative tactics ("Can I help you?"). She initially responds politely but eventually recognizes his predatory intent and calls a policeman to stop her escape vehicle. The joke subverts the romance formula: real life ends not with reunited lovers, but with the "insect" being exposed and disappearing into the crowd. Together, the page contrasts literary fantasy with harsh social reality—contrasting how romance was sold versus how women actually experienced unwanted male attention in public.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A MAIDEN fair. A villain grim, So very fair (they always say) With shaggy brow and glaring eye, That none beside in any way Who lurks about when they are by, With her compare. And follows him. A hero tall, A dusky dell— With mustache trim and hair a-curl, A shadowy, secluded spot— Who somewhere chanced to meet the girl, A struggle and a pistol-shot— And comes to call. A fiendish yell. # conquered foe, A reunited, happy pair, Two lines of poetry, and—there, The book will go. HM. at, BATON, AN ENCOUNTER ON COBB’S CORNER. HERE was the usual throng swarming on Cobb's corner waiting for “a car.” In the midst of this, near the curb-stone, stood a maiden with trusting, soulful eyes who looked as if she might have passed a score ofsummers with hardly any winters to speak of. Yet her manner of deal- ing with a troublesome insect of a well-known species was such as to call forth the lights and shadows produced by contrasts, and to sufficiently demonstrate the crushing cumulative force of mild replies. He approached her with an ingratiating air. * Was you waiting for a car?” “ ir,” replied the unsuspecting maiden. “Where was you going?" “Tam going home.” “Ah!” Pause, accompanied by a doubtful glance. “ What car was you going to take?” “The car that will take me home.” Longer pause. “Was you going to Lynn?” “Oh, no,” in gently-surprised accents, “I don’t live in Lynn.” A change of tactics. * Are you sure you know which car you want to take ?” “Oh, yes, sir.” “If you are not sure perhaps I might help you.” “You are very good.” A CONUNDRUM. Squins—" Well, Jack, you are the queerest animal I ever saw; in fact, you are a conundrum to me.” Jack —"' That must have been your sister's idea also. She gave me up last night.” “Don't you think,” evidently flattered and quite misled, “that I had better carry your parcel for you?” A sudden intelligence leaped into the maiden’s far-away took. “Policeman, will you be kind enough to stop that car for me? The green one—thank you!” The maiden vanished without so much as a backward glance. ‘The crowd closed in on the insect, who was absorbed and disappeared , like a drop of water in mid-ocean. a A DIRECTION. - PHorocrarieR—" Look a little pleasant, please.” HILDREN are troubles; that we StrTeR—"'Sir, these pictures are for distribution among my friends. dea T'm going to commit ide and can't think of anything pleasant.” ee et oa Puotocrarier—" You can’t? Why, just try to imagine yourself one The only ones we're pleased to mul- of your friends when he receives the photograph.” tiply. A FIGURE PAINTER, comicbooks.com