Judge, 1899-10-21 · page 10 of 16
Judge — October 21, 1899 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains rural American humor from an era when Judge satirized regional dialects and social pretensions. **"Boston Spelling"** mocks a visiting Boston girl's perceived superiority. Rural men Sim and Lem play checkers while Sim brags he's outsmarted her—she misspelled his name "Simeon" as "S-iem-i-a-n" in a note. The joke assumes Boston education is fraudulent; the girl's fancy airs mask illiteracy. The humor relies on dialect comedy (rural "ain't" vs. urban pretension) and class mockery typical of the era. **Lower cartoons** are unrelated: "Another Sad Case" depicts working-class Irish figures; "A Happy Life" is a brief comic exchange about a boxer named Cassidy marrying a 300-pound woman—the joke being no one will fight someone that heavy. **"Leigh Hunt Revised"** is a sentimental poem about kissing Jenny. The page reflects early-20th-century American humor that punched down at regional accents, immigrants, and those perceived as socially inferior.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Muse BOSTON SPELLING. HIS is a joke on Sim Woodhead, but he doesn’t know it. Sim and Lem Swigert were playing checkers in the office of Hicks’s livery-stable the other day. “Lem, you know that Boston girl ‘at's visitin’ the Snodgrass girls?” inquired Sim as he arranged his checkers for a new game. : * Yep,” assented Lem. “Well, Lu Snodgrass ast me to he'p make her have a good time. I've been settin’ up to her consider'ble, but she’s been puttin on a heap o lugs with me an’ stringin’ me along whenever she got achanst. I've knowed all the time she was laughin’ at me, fer she thought she was plum out o’ sight ‘cause she come from Boston But I got one on her now.” How's ‘at ?” grunted Lem. “ Well, with all her Boston stuck-up airs and education she cain't spell—she's illiterut.” “Is she?” queried Lem with some interest. “Shore!” said Sim. “I got a note frum her yistidy, tellin’ me she couldn't take a drive with me this evenin’, an’ how do you reckon she spelt my name—how do you s'pose she spelt Simeon ?” “I don't know; how did she spell it ?” asked Lem. Lirtie Buckeve ice birdie, good birdie, don't fly away. Buckeye won't hurt you.” Biro —“‘Aw, go wan ; I may be a jay, but you can’t bunco me like that.” “Well, sir,” chuckled Sim gleefully, “* she begun the note, ‘ My dear S-iem-i-a-n'!” “Well, ‘at # one on her, ain’t it?” agreed his friend. “Crown ‘at man, will ye, please?” and the checker game went on. And it was ever so. The felloes think they , are speeding all around the hub, and they are, after a fashion, and in another way they are not. Sam w tmeLAM, LEIGH HUNT REVISED. | KISSED Jenny when we met, Leaning o'er the chair she sat in; Time, you rogue, who love to get Scandals on your list, put that in. Tell the world, but let it know ‘That her summers are not many— Jennie couldn't kiss me, so I kissed Jenny, ANOTHER SAD CASE. Driven to drink —by a woman. A HAPPY LIFE. Costicax—"* Cassidy ’s married a woman thot weighs three hundred pounds.” Casty—"* Th’ sly divil! He knows thot nobody can fight at thot weight.” comicbooks.com