Judge, 1891-09-05 · page 18 of 18
Judge — September 5, 1891 — page 18: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Judge satirical comic documents the humorous gap between a fisherman's boasts and reality. The narrative follows a predictable pattern: a man announces an ambitious fishing trip to neighbors, then experiences a comedic series of failures—arguing with the boatman, anchoring in wrong spots, sitting in the hot sun fruitlessly, getting stranded on a mudbar, becoming lost in swamps. The satire targets masculine vanity and social pretense. Rather than admit failure, the fisherman returns home fabricating success: he claims fine sport, uses a photograph as "proof," blames weather, and claims he generously distributed catches to the poor and boatman. The joke reflects late 19th/early 20th-century attitudes about men's leisure activities and the gap between public boasting and private embarrassment—a timeless theme about how people construct narratives to save face.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“ahs On leaving home tell all your neighbors you are going to fish. State size of fish you expect to catch, and promise them a mess. On arriving at the boat-house, after greeting your friend, quarrel with the boatman and give hia to understand you know if all and that you want a big, heavy boat. Don’t pay any attention to what the boatman says, but anchor six miles from : shore and sit in the hot sun three hours waiting for a bite— —to find the tide bas left you ona mud bar. You will only have to wait six bours for bigh tide before you can get off. When the tide rises take a short cut through the swamps and find that after two hours’ work you are lost. er having been ol 2: g0't0. ic studio ‘When yoo arrive home tell your wife you had a fine day's sport, ania GE faring beso ceecued by the old boarsan £0 to eee ton, cos the photograph to prove it : tell her the weather was so warm, and Waring noe, Can Hie betier with a photograph to back you up.) Ss you sold some of the fish co the boatman, and gave the rest to 4 poor family. FISHING. The Usual Story of a Day's Fishing. comicbooks.com