Judge — December 9, 1893 — page 25: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon depicts a Christmas dinner scene where a parrot is apparently attempting to tell a ghost story to an assembled group. The image shows multiple cats gathered around what appears to be a dining setting, with the parrot as the central figure. The satire likely plays on the Victorian-era parlor tradition of telling ghost stories after holiday meals. The joke appears to be that a parrot—known for mindlessly repeating what it hears—is trying to tell a ghost story, presumably by reciting something it overheard, possibly badly or inappropriately. The assembled cats serve as an audience, creating an absurd domestic scene. The humor derives from anthropomorphizing animals and the contrast between the parrot's limited capacity for original storytelling and the sophisticated social ritual of holiday entertainment.