Judge, 1896-12-19 · page 13 of 46
Judge — December 19, 1896 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a Christmas-themed humorous page from Judge magazine (signed Peter Newell, 1896). It contains two illustrated jokes: The top panel depicts "Rudolph" (likely a character, not the reindeer—this predates that legend) encountering a turkey, with his frightened expression shown literally extending down his body like buttons popping. The bottom panel shows a bear ("old Bruin," a common 19th-century personification) and another figure under mistletoe. The joke plays on the bear's claim to be bad at kissing but excellent at hugging—a pun on "hug" versus the expected romantic context of mistletoe. Both are light seasonal humor with anthropomorphized animals. The satire, if any, is gentle and domestic rather than political. The page exemplifies Judge's style of whimsical comic illustration and wordplay.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Christmas Judge. Peter Newell"96 INVOLVING HIS BUTTONS. When Rudolph met the gobbler—a turkey bold and bad— His frightened look extended all the way down his fagade. PeterNewall-96 UNDER THE MISTLETOE. ** T ain't no ‘count at kissin’,” said old Bruin with a shrug; ** But then, ob, law! you never saw one better on the hug.”