Judge, 1894-04-28 · page 6 of 18
Judge — April 28, 1894 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from **Judge** (a satirical weekly) contains multiple brief humorous sketches typical of late-19th-century American comedy: **"Merely a Crank"** mocks a supposedly insane man by joking he literally lacks "wheels" (mental faculties). **"Absent-Minded"** plays on a child's forgetfulness—he shouted "Stump!" for a horse and forgot to close his mouth. **"She Has a Prior Claim"** features Irish-dialect working-class characters (Flannigan, Dennis) where a wife threatens to beat her striking union husband if he doesn't return to work, suggesting domestic authority over labor solidarity. **"His Line of Business"** satirizes a tramp claiming unemployment while his actual "business" is coloring meerschaum pipes—implying laziness. **"Great Scheme of Old Curmudgeon"** depicts a peddler (Isaacstein, a Jewish stereotype) offering cheaper alternatives. **"The Exact Figures"** and **"As Far As It Went"** mock wives' spending and vanity through marital banter—common Judge humor about domestic tensions and women's fashion obsessions. The overall tone reflects period attitudes: working-class stereotypes, ethnic caricatures, and gender-based domestic comedy.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE MERELY A CRANK, S*D)ID the doctors pro- nounce Smythe in- sane?” “No. They examined some of his gray matter under a microscope and found that he had only a few wheels.” ABSENT-MINDED. Mamma —* Ned, what are you standing here in the street with your mouth wide open fo Ned—" 1 was hollerin’ “Stump! an’ I forgot to A WAIST OF GOOD MATERIAL. shut it.” oo THE SNAKE NEXT. SOME LADIES of London are making pets of monkeys, the period of dogs and babies, as one authority puts it, having gone by. The snake needn't despair, He will be a pet yet. SHE HAS A PRIOR CLAIM, FLANNIGAN — “* What be yez cumin’ home so airly in the day fur, Dennis —"* The union has declared a sthroike.” Mrs. FLANNIGAN — "* Declared a sthroike, has it? Vez jined a union wid me befoor dis other wan; an’ Oi declares thot if yez don't git back to yer job i'll baste the hoide aff av yez.” HIS LINE OF BUSINESS. SSYVHY don't I go to work, mum?” said the tramp, repeating Mrs. Cranberry’s question. “I'd only be too happy, if I could get something to do in me own line of business.” “What might that be?” asked the sympathetic woman “Colorin’ meerschaums, mum.” GREAT SCHEME OF OLD CURMUDGEON! AN OVER-ESTIMATE, Business Man —"* Now, what do you wan My time is worth a dollar IsaacsTEIN (the peddler)—""Ach! you god stuck, mister. Led me show you a bedder von fer t'irty-fife tollar.” THE EXACT FIGURES. Husband (angrily) —" 1 tell you { can’t pay these bills, Here is a hat that cost seventy-five dollars alone. It is monstrous !" { Ife (tearfully) —* Well, Lam sure 1 am as economical as I can be. That hat would have cost me eighty dollars if I had not found my own material, which Madame Skinem was kind enough to make up for me.” Husband —" And whit did the material cost you ?” IVéfe (triamphantly)—" Only about twenty dollars. 1 figured it over every way so I could be sure it was right.” AS FAR AS IT WENT. Wafe (at party)—" That décolleté waist of Mrs, Shapely fits her per- fectly, doesn’t it?" Husband (looking intently)—“ It would if there were enough of it.” comicbooks.com