Judge, 1892-04-23 · page 7 of 16
Judge — April 23, 1892 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical page from Judge magazine contains multiple short humor pieces mocking Victorian social hypocrisy and contemporary absurdities: **"In Puris Naturalibus"** critiques a young man who blushes at nudity in classical art yet claims moral purity—exposing the contradiction between affected propriety and actual prudishness. **"The Chinese Prison"** satirizes American attitudes toward Chinese immigrants through a Sunday school lesson where a child innocently reveals Sing Sing (an American prison) as the destination for "bad Chinamen"—mocking both racist stereotypes and oblivious white educators. **"Some Possible Titles"** lists mock-serious book proposals, including works by Belva Lockwood (women's suffrage advocate) and Thomas Edison, lampooning pretentious autobiographies. **"A Necessity Now"** depicts spousal manipulation: a wife demands a piano not for music but because her father bought her a decorative "piano-lamp," illustrating domestic absurdity. The humor relies on recognizing period social conventions—Victorian prudishness, anti-Chinese prejudice, and domestic comedy tropes—that modern readers need historical context to appreciate.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE IN PURIS NATURALIBUS. HE STOOD calmly examining Venus (De Médici, the statue, I mean) Till 1 wondered—now this is between us— If bis thoughts were as pure and serenc As the marble at which he was gazing ; For I'd seen, more than once, this same youth Grow red as a hickory fire blazing When confronting the plain, naked truth ! KELLY LA RUE BROWN, SN'T IT TIME to call in the expression, “ Many years ago John Smith used to,” etc.? A CANE SRAT. A) CASE OF REAL.SYMPATHY. Melton—" What have you done, old man; broken your umbrella ?” Beaver—" Yes ; and I'm so sorry. It belonged to of my dearest friends.” THE CHINESE PRISON. Sunday -school teacher (to Chinese scholars) — “Where do good Chinamen go, Hop Wah ?” Hop Wahk—*To heaven.” Sunday-school teacher —" That's right, and I hope you all will merit that reward. Now, Hop Wah, you DEMONSTRATING. may.tell‘us where bad Chinamen go.” Brerpaver—‘tAm Tin it?” 45, “Vell! I should dink so.” Hop Wah—* Sing Sing.” SOME POSSIBLE TITLES OF FUTURE BOOKS. . SMES I Might Have Loved,” by Belva Lockwood. “Rights We Girls Insist on Having,” by Susie B. Anthony. rhe Women That Would Have Been Delighted To Marry Me,” by Herman.Oelrichs. jotions That Possessed Me on Becoming Convinced That My Flying-machine Would Really. Work,” by Thomas B. Edison. “If I Had Broken Loose as’ A Novelist, instead of A Dramatist, in the First ,Place,” by Archie Clavering Gunter, the literary millionaire. “Ben Butler in the White House; a romance founded up- on my own and Mr, Butler’s imagination,” by Charles A. Dana, the “It’s so” editor of the New York Sun. teow sao. A NECESSITY NOW. Mrs. Gaszam—"George, you really must get me a piano.” Gazzam—" Nonsense, Nell! You don’t know, one : THE MONTH OF APRIL, note from another Pat McGinty —** Shure, an’ it's foine Mrs. Gazzam—" ‘That's weather for the loikes of me. No sooner do —shcattered agin.” |, true, but I must have a piano Y& hov the dhirt haped whin it's — because papa has given me ITS WHEREABOUTS. a piano-lamp for a birthday Husband —" Where is that thermometer I hung up here the other day?” gift.” Wife— | saw you this morning at one o'clock trying to brush your teeth, with it.” comicbooks.com