Judge, 1899-08-12 · page 10 of 16
Judge — August 12, 1899 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains six brief humorous vignettes satirizing early 20th-century American life and social conventions: **"His Idea"** mocks the contradiction between marketing "A Happy Marriage" as fiction when it's actually presented as a practical book—implying happy marriages are fictional fantasies. **"The Fancy-Dress Ball"** plays on animal costumes: a character dressed as a sparrow and one as an elephant, with the joke implying the costumes are absurdly unconvincing. **"The One to Let Alone"** features Irish dialect humor (Pat) about a toothache—the joke being the ironic advice to leave the only aching tooth untouched. **"Only Natural"** ridicules urban children's limited knowledge; a city girl assumes sky clouds mean the sky gets "tanned" in the country. **"Clearly Not"** presents a boy's impudent response to moral instruction, refusing to suppress anger because he cannot literally stop the sun. **"Strictly Correct"** and **"How It Looked"** satirize female vanity and pretension—one woman's complaint about trolleys and another's suspicious use of affected names on hotel registers. The overall tone targets everyday absurdities and social pretense.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Ae HIS IDEA yuld I sell you a copy of this book, “A Happy Marriage’ ?" fiction ?” hy, certainly! What else could it be 7 hy, 1 didn't know but it might be a joke-book. AY THE FANCY-DRESS BALL. THe ttirro —* U'm a sparrow, as you can see from my costume.” Tie osreic jh, yes! and I'm an elephant, as you can see from mine.” THE ONE TO LET ALONE. Pat—'‘Arrah, ye divil! Don’t touch thot tooth !" Dentist—"* Why?" Pat—" Whoi, thot's the only wan in me mouth thot's aching, ye fool."" ONLY NATURAL. ETH had been ac- customed to only the little patch of blue over her city home. On being taken to the country, and seeing the sky completely covered with clouds, she ex- claimed with much surprise, “ Why, the sky gets tanned in the country, too, doesn’t it, mamma >” CLEARLY NOT. Benevolent old gentleman (to angry boy)—" Stop, my son Never let the sun go down on your wrath.” Small boy—" Well, say, do yer think I'm Joshua, ter make it stand still ?” A POSSIBLE EXPLANATION. Ti 1AT married men the unmarried outlive — Could there be a conclusion wronger? Hut I can admit, and a reason give, ‘That to them life seems much longer. STRICTLY CORRECT. ISS FELLOVER sat down ignominiously on the floor of a trolley-car the other day while trying to get to a seat. A sympathetic lady picked her up. saying, ~ These cars are horrid to ride in, aren't they?" “They are much horrider to walk in,” replied Miss Fellover, ruefully brushing the dust off her new tailor-made gown. HOW IT LOOKED Eruri—" I don’t think that new arrival plays golf or teanis or anything.” Epitn—* Why not 7° EtTHeL—"* She signed herself on the register Mary Jane Smith, instead of Mae Jeanne Smythe.” comicbooks.com