Judge — May 19, 1900 — page 5: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a social satire cartoon depicting a romantic encounter between a man named Harold and a woman named Ethel. Harold nervously asks if her dog would bite him if he attempted to kiss her. Ethel's response—that the dog "has never bitten any of my other gentlemen friends"—is the joke's punch line. The humor relies on the implication that Ethel receives many male visitors, suggesting loose morality or promiscuity by early 20th-century standards. Harold's concern about the dog is rendered humorous and secondary to this social commentary. The cartoon satirizes both the woman's apparent romantic availability and the man's somewhat awkward courtship approach, typical of Judge magazine's focus on urban social conventions and romantic etiquette of the era.