Judge, 1892-07-16 · page 5 of 16
Judge — July 16, 1892 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the hypocrisy of "New Woman" feminism in the 1890s fin-de-siècle era. Mrs. Fin de Siècle delivers a rousing speech to a women's club about female equality and ambition—dreaming of becoming a bank president instead of being bound by matrimony and domestic drudgery. The satire's punch: immediately afterward, at home, she's revealed as precisely the woman she theoretically opposes. She's exhausted managing household expenses and accounting for bread and butter costs. Her headaches stem from inability to balance household books—not oppression, but practical incompetence. When her friend suggests throwing the ledger at her husband, Mrs. Fin de Siècle realizes that's already her impulse, suggesting her "feminist" ideals collapse under actual domestic reality. The cartoon mocks privileged women activists whose grand rhetoric about women's rights masks they haven't actually challenged their own marriages or domestic roles. Their feminism remains performative theory disconnected from lived practice.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE THEORY AND PRACTICE. MRS, FIN DE SISCLE’S ADDRESS AT THE WOMEN'S CLUB, h& EAR MEMBERS—Only for the fact that it would de- N\ priv me of the pleasure of addressing you this evening. I would wish that I had been born a hundred years later, for the one dream of my life is to see woman occupying her proper sphere. Often have I imagined how different even my life would have been if only women had their rights, and I see myself occupying a position as bank-president with a = : salary of twenty thousand a year, instead of being bound down by the chains of matrimony and forced to’ drudge over work not only uncon- genial but far beneath the talents with which I have been endowed, and which would be performed by any uncultured woman at a few paltry dollars a month and her board. (Loud applause.) MRS, FIN DE SIRCLE AT HOME. Mrs, Dorcas—\'m so sorry I couldn't attend the meeting last night, my dear. 1 wouldn't have missed hearing your address for anything. Every one said it was just lovely and so noble and all that, so I thought 1 would drop in to tell you how your efforts in behalf of the sex are appreciated. You're not looking well, dear. I'm afraid you're overworking yourself in the cause.” Mrs. Fin de Sidcle—No, dear; it isn't that. I could labor forever in the beloved work. I've only a headache, that’s all. You know how queer my husband is? Well, A BREAK IN THE ELOPEMENT. ‘Miss Carraway—" Ts yo' thar, Claude?” Mr. Geurrin—' Part ob me is, Creesy. D' res’ is ocker- pyin’ a mush.rat trap on d’ oder side o' d’ faince.” he insists that I shall keep an account of the household ex- penses and show him the book at the end of each weel Mrs. Dorcas—" How mean! What an awful you must lead! It’s no wonder, my dear, that you sometimes dream how different it would be if our sex had their rights. And to think that a woman with an ambition to be a bank- president should have to fret herself away over the price of a loaf of bread and a pound of butter!” Mrs: Fin de Sitcle—\t is dreadful.”* Mrs. Dorcas—“ Well, 1 know what I should do. I'd just throw the book in his face.” Mrs. Fin de Sidcle—" \'ve often thought of that, because 1 knew it would put a stop to these dreadful headaches,” Mrs. Dorcas —“ How's that?” Mrs. Fin de Sidcle— Because, my dear, they al NOT IN LOVE WITH THE PASTIME. come on because I can never make the accounts balance Miss Wittis—"* Do you play foot-ball, Mr. Grewsom?” JAMES JAY O'CONNELL Mx. Grewsost (Princeton, ‘92)—""I twied one game, but I didn’t like it vewy much, don't know E oP Miss Wretis—" What position did you play?” UAE aT Mx. Grewsom—" The boys didn't like me for some weason or other, and they used Trotter—“ What's your opinion of the political outlook?” me for the ball." Barlow—"1 haven't any opinion—but I'll bet you.” DEAR, THOUGHTFUL. LITTLE THING. SOWELL, Flossie, you W are busy with fancy work, I see.” “Yes, I'se makin’ papa a birfday-pwesent.” “ Now what may that be— an afghan?” “Oh, no. That's a nice yellow floss wig to wear to church, Papa's bald.” ON THE BANKS OF THE MISSISSIPPI. INFORMATION FOR FISHERMEN, Stee do you have the wires on that barbed-wire fence s0 Tide rises June rsth. High at August rsth. Fishermen report large MISSISSIPPI FARMER—'‘So that when the river rises we can use it for a catches all along the coast.—Daily paper. fish-net.”” comicbooks.com