Judge, 1899-12-23 · page 13 of 46
Judge — December 23, 1899 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is an illustrated poem from Judge magazine celebrating the American girl as an idealized national figure. The artwork by Penrhyn Stanbaws shows an elegantly dressed woman in a elaborate gown with flowers in her hair—a romanticized feminine ideal. The satire works through exaggeration: the poem ironically claims the American girl's beauty derives from global sources—"Constantinople, London, Paris, Rome" and "Venus"—suggesting she represents an impossible synthesis of world perfection. The accompanying verse by Henry Tyrrell praises her as "American, true blue, home born and bred" while the visual and textual evidence contradicts this, implying the "American girl" is actually an artificial, imported construct rather than authentically American. This likely mocks both American pretension and the contemporary obsession with European sophistication among the upper classes during the Gilded Age.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
«) Pennuyn STantaws, nshett AM Common 1p90 81 JUDGE COMPAAY OF KEW YORK. ‘Sackett & Within Lith & Pi Co. Rew York. JUDGE'S WORLD'S F4/X., THE AMERICAN GIRL. Like bees that bring their bones 10 the comb American, true blue, home born and bred, From far afield. of all the flowers blended— Heiress to pure hearts’ pride, and all the 5 So happy fates, that this child’s birth attended, ‘The world’s spring-time reflected in your face is, locked to her nest, each bearing beauty home. ‘The aureole of girlhood crowns your head— Constantinople, London, Paris, Rome, You, who are wayward-sweet as April weather, White North, and tropic South, and Orient splendid And dearer than all other girls together. For her perfection treasure rare expended, waxny TRRELte ‘And Venus blew a kiss from the sea foam. comicbooks.com