Judge, 1899-03-18 · page 16 of 16
Judge — March 18, 1899 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top cartoon ("Hard Lines"):** A beggar named "Hardened Honus" complains to a wealthy woman that despite begging all day, he's only earned four dollars. The satire mocks both the beggar's implausible complaint (four dollars was substantial income for the era) and the patronizing sympathy of the well-to-do, suggesting either the beggar is dishonest or the wealthy woman is naive about working-class economics. **Bottom cartoon ("Easily Accounted For"):** A boarding-house mistress and "star boarder" (a regular tenant) discuss finding an old three-cent coin inside a chicken. The joke relies on the coin being obsolete—removed from circulation twenty years prior—allowing the boarder to humorously explain how the bird could have swallowed it as a chick. This is gentle, absurdist humor about coincidence rather than social satire. Both cartoons use exaggerated character types typical of 1890s Judge magazine humor.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
HAKD LINES Hagpenev Honus—* I’m just about discouraged, lady.” ‘ME LADY—" Oh, but you mustn't get discouraged.” HARDENED Honus (sobbing loudly)—" Oh, but f can't help it, lady ; I've begged all day long and T only made four dollars.”” “COPNONT [899 BY ARNELL PUBLISKING OF mEW YORK. - : Sackett vibes Litho Peg Co New York EASILY ACCOUNTED FOR. . THE BOARDING-HOUSE aires (suavely)—"' When the cook was cleaning this spring-chicken to-day she found an old-fashioned silver three-cent piece in its crop. Wasn't that strange ‘THE STAR BOARDER—" Oh, no; those three-cent pieces went out of circulation just twenty years ago, and this bird probably swallowed it when a child.” comicbooks.com