Judge, 1894-08-04 · page 10 of 16
Judge — August 4, 1894 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains multiple satirical pieces. **"The Lad and the Circus"** is a narrative poem with illustrations mocking rural naivety. It depicts a country boy saving his meager earnings for weeks to attend a circus, mesmerized by exaggerated billboard advertisements (the "gaudy monsters" and impossibly skilled performers). The satire targets how circus promotions exploit simple folk with false promises of spectacle, while the lad's utter faith in the advertisements' claims shows rural credulity. The **"City Life"** section contains brief humorous vignettes about urban life: a professional unable to conduct private phone calls due to street noise; a woman scolding a friend for smoking, only to admit it was her only joke; and a series of illustrations titled "A Mighty Throw; or, Saved by His Collar," depicting physical comedy (appears to show someone thrown and saved by their collar). The overall theme satirizes contrasts between rural innocence and urban sophistication, alongside general social absurdities of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE LAD AND THE CIRCUS. ] 8 UMBER. crimson, brick-dust, vivid green, The herald colors deck the wayside fence Where cavalcades of prancing steeds are seen Beneath the words “unrivaled, great,immense”; And ladies scant of clothes but flush of limbs, Leap meteor-like across the ambient skies While yonder torrid gent in crimson, swims High o'er the bare-backed steed which ‘neath him flies. And ne‘er such lions roared or tigers prowled As these upon the fence at Johnsonville ; And ne‘er beside Zambesi’s waves have howled Such gaudy monsters as afilict this bill, To none of these the country lad gives pause, Undoubting faith he gives to all he sees ; And let the behemoths distend their jaws— ‘The eager lad can swallow more than these. Mark now the thoughtful lad devoid of coin And the great event just two short weeks away, Eager to save, to earn or to purloin The needed cash before the eventful day. With weary tasks his soul is now content, Deftly he wields the heavy hoe and spade. What errands long, he goeth for a cent, What prescience tls him where the eggs are laid, And now behold the canvas’s snowy gleam, ‘The waving flags and eke the blaring band! Behold the lad amid the human stream, f Monarch of all, a quarter in his hand. ‘ Let nations reel and rock, war loose his hand ; Let tariffs rise or fall, come weal or woe, s Untimely seasons scant the stricken land— ‘The lad cares:not ; he's ‘tin it” with the show. , 4. worven, MISUNDZIRSTOOD, Mrs. O'REILLY (on the sixth floor)— ** Look out, down there ; look out!” (And they looked out.) CITY LIFE. | 66] WANT to get a short-distance telephone,” said the man with a professional and some- what distracted air. Z “ From your office to the house, I presume,” remarked the clerk, gauging his customer. “No,” replied the professional gentleman; ‘for my office alone. 1 am located on’ a | street where there are sev- eral lines of cars and con- siderable additional traffic, and sometimes I find it necessary to. ask; my pa- tients a few. questions,” VEXED. Dora —" 1. caught Kiuy Whiffle smoking a cigarette the other day,” Gora —" Did ‘you scold her ?" Dora ~"* Indeed I did, FUNNY. |: ‘ It was the only one she ! this is the funniest : joke T ever" — had.” 3 + 5 A A MIGHTY THROW; OR, SAVED BY HIS COLLAR. comicbooks.com