Judge, 1891-07-25 · page 16 of 20
Judge — July 25, 1891 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the late-19th-century craze for lawn tennis among America's wealthy classes. The cartoons mock both the sport itself and the people who play it. The central large illustration depicts an elaborately dressed society woman attempting tennis—her ornate outfit and corseted figure make athletic movement absurd. Surrounding vignettes ridicule various players: a portly man struggling in heat, a "society girl" failing at basic shots. The farmer's dialogue at bottom provides the satirical punch: when sent a tennis net from the city, he repurposes it as a fishing gill net—more practical and productive. This contrasts working-class utility with upper-class leisure, suggesting wealthy urbanites waste resources on frivolous fashions while farmers put equipment to "real" use. The humor targets both tennis as an impractical fad and the incompetence of society people attempting it.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
comicbooks.com A fat man's de tennis in hot weather © without much exercise. (Patent applied for.) ‘The haterack comes in handy for the short high balls. A photographic snap-shot of a society’ girl trying to stop a side bal holy 2 >> son William knew what he was ahout when he sent “his hammock from the city. City soaxpan (lo farmer Haystack) — Where is the tennis net Psent down M: here jast week?” - . Ob. 1 got her working before you got here. It is the best gill net I ever seed, It has caught four shad and a black bass already, by gosh!" JUDGE'S OBSERVATIONS ON LAWN TENNIS.