Judge — July 31, 1897 — page 8: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains three separate humorous vignettes satirizing early 20th-century American social attitudes: **"Wasted Efforts"**: A joke about a working-class man (Smith) whose wife showed affection despite his being broke—the humor relies on the era's assumption that a man's worth was tied to his financial status. **"A Conundrum"**: Features caricatured African American and Native American figures (using period racist dialect spellings). The "joke" involves conflating a Vassar college girl being kissed with a Comanche Indian and a Black man, with the punchline that "neither one" minds—this represents the offensive racial humor common to early 20th-century satire magazines. **"A Sweet Vision of Childhood"** (partially visible): Appears to mock parenting or childhood behavior. These cartoons reflect Judge's satirical approach to class, race, and gender dynamics of the era, though the racial caricatures are deeply offensive by modern standards.