Judge, 1893-12-09 · page 32 of 52
Judge — December 9, 1893 — page 32: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page presents riddle-style satirical vignettes about young women's Christmas behavior, each designed to identify a major American city through wordplay and cultural stereotypes. The "charades" mock different female character types: a wealthy girl receiving a piano (suggesting a world's fair city—likely Chicago); an intellectual woman getting Greek books (Boston); a lazy girl hanging stockings late (Philadelphia); and a mercenary daughter shaking down her father for money (New York City, referenced through Yonkers and the Brooklyn Bridge). The humor relies on contemporary associations: Boston's intellectual pretensions, Philadelphia's "City of Brotherly Love" slogan, New York's materialism and wealth. The page title joke about Sammy Philpot freezing in a refrigerator adds absurdist comedy. This reflects *Judge*'s satirical tradition of poking fun at regional American stereotypes and female behavior through clever riddles. The drawings are crude comic illustrations typical of 1880s-90s satirical publications.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
HOW SAMMY HOLIDAY CHARADES. MIDDEN crTIES, GE hung her stocking o'er the hearth, And most securely did she pin it; And some do say she found next day ‘A concert grand piano in it, Query: In what great western city that has had a world’s fair did this girl live? She fastened her hose on an old book-case, And a ruby blush covered her cheek To think Santa Claus before them would pause Ere he filled them with books writ in Greek. Query: What capital city in Massachusetts was the native place of this young woman? She put two white stockings in place, But nothing came of it, my dears, Because she was slow and hung them, you know, Not Christmas, but after New-year's, Query: In what city of brotherly love, opposite Camden and on the Pennsylvania railroad, was this girl brought up? —"*L can't catch fish with the rod. I'll just explode this dynamite- the lake and collect the dead fish. — —Great heavens ! A FAILURE; OR, ANGS'S FAITHFUL DOG. PHILPOT, WHO FELL ASLEEP IN A REFRIGERATOR WHILE LOOKING FOR JAM, WAS THAWED OUT, She hung up no stocking at all, Yet Christmas day found her on deck, At breakfast, in fact, her pa she attacked, And held him right up for a check. Query: In what city, bounded on the north by Yon- kers and connected with Brooklyn by a suspension bridge, was this ma‘den considered de rigueur? JONN x. BANGS. comicbooks.com