Judge — December 8, 1894 — page 44: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical comic strip mocks Puritan attitudes toward Christmas celebration. The narrative follows two vagrant "Puritan tramps" who encounter a magical yule log that grants wishes. The comic contrasts Puritan sobriety with festive indulgence: the tramps initially resist Christmas revelry (fitting their supposed religious strictness), but the bewitched log compels them into increasingly chaotic holiday debauchery—eating, drinking, and merrymaking. The satire targets the historical Puritan opposition to Christmas observance as frivolous and sinful. By showing the "Puritan" characters helplessly swept into celebration despite their ideology, Judge ridicules Puritan restraint as both hypocritical and futile against human nature's desire for festivity. The comic presents Christmas indulgence as inevitable and desirable, opposing Puritan values as absurdly rigid.