Judge, 1891 · page 24 of 69
Judge — 1891 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes Irish-American social climbing, specifically Mrs. O'Slattery's pretensions to respectability. The main text mocks her boasting about her husband's rising status and their wealthy suitors (lawyers, aldermen, senators, clergy) to old tenement neighbors. The joke hinges on class anxiety: Mrs. O'S. embarrassingly exaggerates her family's ascent while her daughters try to impress "an eligible young man." When her crude neighbor Mike Duffy reminisces about their shared poverty—reminding her she was once fat and violent, fighting a landlord over unpaid rent—she's humiliated. A subsequent brawl involving her daughter Mary Ann destroys any social credibility she'd built. The satire targets both Irish immigrants' aspirational status-seeking and the fragility of their claims to gentility. The final line's bitter joke—now requiring calling cards for visitors—underscores how thoroughly the family's social pretensions have collapsed. The filler illustrations show "The Greedy Tiger and the Spiral Spring," an unrelated Indian legend.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
eligible young man was sur- rounded by tive palpitating females, who cut off his te: treat until a substitute came. Matters progressed smoothly all day until evening, when a” few neighbors of unsavory tenement memory called They were honest, simple- minded men, and for their especial deléctation, whilst the daughters were trying to mash an eligible young man, Mrs. O'Slattery condescend- ingly detailed the number of callers of quality that had called. “There wuz sivin risin’ young loyars [Mrs. O'S. prided herself on this, which she formerly called liars), six aldermin, two sinators, and the clargy: the clarg niver forgit us aris-to-cracy.”” “Shure, Mrs. O’Slattery, do ye enjoy yourself as much as the time when me and you lived on the same flure in McCoy's tenement?” inquired Mike Duffy, one of the ple- bian callers. “Why shouldn't I, Mister Duffy ; me husband is risin’ in the world, and if the Dim- ocrats continue their succes: he says he will move to Fi avenoo after the next elic- tion,” retorted Mrs. O'S. “Ye have got much fatter since ye quit walking up and FUNNY THINGS FROM JUDGE. THE GREEDY TIGER AND THE SPIRAL SPRING. A legend of the Indies, A REASON TO BE, IF TRUE. +L wonder what makes Professor Schmidt so silent this evening again?” I s'pose he's got one of his usual ‘stills’ on.” down six flights of stairs, continued the simple Duffy “Yes. My averagedupuy has increased somew said Mrs. O'S., grandly, while her face got very red. At this, the daughters com- menced to cough violently, and the young man smiled. The ‘irrepressible Duffy continued : “Do ye remimber this New Year's: night five years. Mary Ann over there was about twenty-two thin She and my Jamsey are the same age; we were all prutty full that ‘night, and you re- mimber the landlady came up to know if you were going to stop the noise, or else pay the three months’ rint_ you owed. T'll never forgit the longest day I live how ye flew at her; ye wern’t quite so fat thin, and it was a tough fight, for ye know the landlady was ‘sober. Mary Ann she flew at Doolan, who was t ing to siparate yees an Mary Ann was here seized with what she afterwards termed a historical fit; the young man on whom she had just made a favorable im- Pression ran out, and the room was quickly cleared. Hereafter when any one calls on the O'Slatterys, they must first send in a card for inspection before admittance. comicbooks.com