Judge, 1891-08-22 · page 5 of 16
Judge — August 22, 1891 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page collects various humorous satirical pieces typical of late 19th/early 20th-century American humor: **"My Summer"** mocks urban heat and noise—the poet trapped in an attic suffers organ-grinders, street vendors, flies, and mosquitoes, capturing middle-class complaints about city summers. **"Caught in the Act"** plays on rural ignorance: a farmer uses a hotel's electric bell button like a jack-knife to retrieve a lost collar-button from the wall, not understanding the device's purpose. **"A Big 'Un"** satirizes circus sideshow exaggeration—the fat girl's absurd claim that at fourteen she was "so stout" she needed a double bed appears to joke about her implausible proportions. **"Daddie 'Rastus's Idea of Heaven"** uses a racist caricature (dialect and name suggest a Black character) for ethnic humor about mistaking an asylum for heaven. **Church satire** contrasts "Low" and "High" church practices, with High Church ridiculed for excessive ritual. **Divorce joke** mocks easy Chicago divorce laws; South Dakota apparently offered similar lax standards. The page primarily offers light domestic and social humor, with period-typical racial stereotyping.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
MY SUMMER. P HERE within my attic near the sky I pass the summer time as best I'can, Dependent on ice-water, and a fan To waft away the ever-present fly. ‘The organ-grinder’s strains are floating by; The licensed vender bellows like a man Bereft of reason, Oh, but for a span Of ease and quiet and contentment nigh ! But no; I'm fated Aere to delve and do, Where flies and bees perch on my writing-pad, Where gaunt mosquitoes wander to and fro, Where fierce caloric puts me in a stew, Where well-assorted noises drive me mad, And cabbage-odors come up from below ! NATHAN MM. LEVY, rite fi NAT] CAUGHT IN HoreL-cLerK —" Thunderation ! dous ringing?” FARMER SQuasHBY (af the electric bell) "Gosh! I dunno, I jes’ lost my collar-button, an’ wuz tryin’ to dig this little white one out o' the wall with’my jack-knife.” What's this tremen- A BIG 'UN. N A side show at a county fair. The fat girl loquitur: “Ladies and gentlemen, I.weigh three hundred and forty. from my birth, at the age of fourteen I was so stout that I had to sleep in a double-bedded room.” A NEW CURE. Brown —"* What the deuce is the matter? You look as though you were a prisoner in your own house.” SMrTH—'*I find by reading the census reports that prisons are the healthiest places in the country, because of the mode of life; and not feeling well, I thought I'd try it at home.” DADDIE '’RASTUS’S IDEA OF HEAVEN COYVHAT did you see in New York that was most like heaven, Daddie 'Rastus ?” asked his small-boy admirer. “Well, honey, I ain’t see nuttin like I tink ob hebben, but I see suppen made me tink wot 'e could be lik “ What, daddie?” “De def and dumb dere am deef and dumb.” ylum ; ‘cause den I tink perhaps de chickens in de coops up VERY HIGH. Low Church—"\ hear you are quite ritualistic at your church—have confession, penance and all that sort of thing.” High Church—"Yes, we have everything —surplic all the high jinks; do everything except burn insect-powder.” choir, candles, confession, WOULD TRY IT LATER. Mrs. de Grampee —in Chicago?” Mrs, Downey —" No; in South Dakota.” Mrs. de Grampcey—"Is that so? 1 must try South Dakota next _ time. One gets wedded so easily to Chicago in such matters.” * Where did you get your divorce, Mrs. Downey Large HIS DISPLAY. Mx. Cunnt¥r (before going in) —"* The ordinary plain, every-day swimmin is all very well, but I've perfected myself in some fancy evolutions that I thin! will interest the ladies intensely. Here goes." Those fancy evolutions. comicbooks.com