Judge, 1894-11-17 · page 4 of 16
Judge — November 17, 1894 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Judge Magazine Page 308: Analysis This page contains multiple unrelated satirical sketches typical of Judge's format: **"Fitted for the Executive Chair"** mocks a man's hunting enthusiasm as qualification for the U.S. presidency—satire on unfit political candidates. **"In the Cause of Science"** jokes that a doctor studying monkey language has switched to studying railroad brakemen's vocabulary, implying workers speak as unintelligibly as animals. **"The Novel of the Future"** parodies contemporary literary trends: dark, pessimistic "realist" novels with poor morals, celebrating a young writer who breaks free with cheerful, wholesome stories—satirizing both literary pretension and reform. **Recurring gag sketches** include romantic rejection humor ("Belinda"), class/accent comedy (Willie the waiter), restaurant deception, pharmaceutical price-gouging, and a final series about a man's mortified reaction to meeting a woman in bloomers (then-scandalous athletic wear). The humor targets: literary snobbery, medical fraud, class pretension, and anxiety about changing women's fashion—all early 1900s preoccupations.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
WHEN Iproposed Belinda smiled— Rut when T asked her once avain, It made me feel quite flat ; In no mood to be chaffed, Yet being in my heart no child 1 could not quite forgive her then, I quite forgave her that For then—Belinda laughed. FITTED FOR THE EXECUTIVE CHAIR. ssHE SEEMS to have a wonderful enthusiasm for hunting and fish- ing.” “Enthusiasm is no name for it, Why, that man ought to be presi« dent of the United States.” IN THE CAUSE OF SCIENCE, Spriggins "1 don’t hear anything lately of Dr. Garner and his study of the monkey tongue.” Diggins —* No. You see the doctor is studying the language of the railroad brakemen. He has succeeded in distinguishing a vocabulary of eleven distinct words, and he hopes to add to that number.” IN SPEAKING TER: at are you at now, \ "m simply a waitah, CLARENCE Wituie —"Aw, THE NOVEL OF THE FUTURE, LUNGED ina gulf of dark despair ‘The modern novel lay, And no one dared to cheer it up, Or ask it to be gay. “Not at all; I'm waiting for me uncle to die, deah boy. Have a violet?" LURING THE UNWARY. . ‘| NOTICE that the proprietor of the festaurant next door displays the choicest cuts and the most delicious-look- ing vegetables in front of the mirrors in his window.” “Yes; he evidently likes to give the people food for reflection.” HIS PRICE. Druggist~-"\ suppose your druggist charged you about five dollars for this prescription. It’s nothing but about half a cent's worth of salt and water.” Customer—" Indeed! How much are you going to charge me?" Druggist—" That ‘ll be two dollars.” Its pessimistic chapters wailed From prologue to the end ; Its murky, lowering. frowning lines Lugubriously were penned Satiric epigrams described Each commonplace detail Its realism was robust, Its morals rather frail, Until, one day, a writer young, Clever and up to date, Wielding a ready, graceful pen, Observed its dismal fate. With resolute audacity, Disdaining cult and creed, He broke convention's bonds and thus, ‘The captive novel freed. NOT WHAT SHE EXPECTED. Mrs. de Vere—" They say my daugh- ter took her beauty from her mother.” The count —** How shameful zat she should haf so deprived you!” Ie wrote a tale of love and peace, With happiness o'erspread ; A cheery, sunny, wholesome book, That everybody read. CAROLYN. WRLLS. HIS FIRST RIDE. This is the way he looked when he met the latest thing in bloomers, N. B.—he artist feels utterly unable to depict the way he felt. This is the way de Twiller looked the first time he rode out on his fine new saddle-horse. This is something like the way he felt. comicbooks.com