Judge, 1900-10-20 · page 11 of 26
Judge — October 20, 1900 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains several satirical pieces typical of Judge's social humor: **"Wanted Change"** mocks petty bureaucratic complaints—a man demands a one-cent refund on postage, threatening to report the postal clerk to the president. The satire targets both trivial grievances and government inefficiency. **"A Doubtful Case"** uses dialect humor (African American vernacular of the era) to joke about a widow's grief. The deacon questions whether her late husband's death is truly an "affliction," implying the deceased was difficult. **"The Truth at Last"** has a farmer claiming farming "doesn't pay" to scare off competition—satirizing rural duplicity. **"His Loss"** jokes about a newspaper editor's lost printing plate of "Lydia E. Pinkham," a famous patent medicine advertiser. The humor lies in the editor's anger despite the subject being long dead. **"In Topsyturvy Land"** and other pieces use visual absurdism and working-class dialect for comedic effect. The page reflects Judge's typical mix of class-based humor, bureaucratic satire, and crude ethnic stereotyping common to early 20th-century American humor.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
HE fair attend- ant at the stamp win- dow of the Corpus Christi post- office wearily sighed. Then a smile wreathed her lips; the sort of smile that reminds you of a hum- ming bird hovering nigh honeysuckle. “I'm to be reported again,” she said; “yonder short man ¢ with the vandyke beard has a grievance.” “ What have you done now?” “Well, he says he mailed a letter to a city address and had put a two-cent stamp on it. He is going to complain of me to A DOUBTFUL CASE. A es Parson Jackson —*" I wish yo’ would make a call on de widow Jones, deacon! De bible tells us to comfort de wid- the president because I won't owed and fatherless in deyr affliction, yo’ know.” give him a one-cent stamp in _ Deacon Jounson — ** Dat's jist it, parson! Knowin’ de late lamented as well as I did, I ain't quite sure dat it's an change.” affliction. ies = Sed = — CONFUCIAN ANALECTS., (From the Chinese.) LIKE copress-teaves and pine that come to stay, Friendships there are that never fade away. ‘The man who up to forty years has grown Is little worth if he is still unknown, Where laws are good and equal in a place, He who stays poor incurs deserved disgrace ; But when the government is full of blame, To roll in wealth is certainly a shame. Be not too liberal with your * musts” and “* nays,” For doubt may rise and your best thoughts displace ; Be chary also of too many ** T For egotists are hardly ever wise. Most men hold beauty very rare and dear, But halt at virtue, which is more austere ; The first enslaves us by its loveliness, And yet the last should not be thought of less. ‘Though the fine graces and great gifts of Chow * Your person and your character endow, ‘The broom of justice sweeps them all aside If they promote in you unholy pride. THE TRUTH AT LAST. JouL BaxTon, Farsten—" Say, this pose us farmers is allus taken that ‘farmin’ don't pay’ beats a trust all holler fur gynasiytt Mame Of the head of a much-venerated Chinese scarin’ off competition.” HIS LOSS. *¢(CONFOUND the infernal luck!" the able editor of the Pettyville Plaindealer was snorting, as a friend entered the office.“ Gosh- hang the blankity-blanked demon that stole, borrowed, or made ‘way with our elec- trotype of the late Pydia E. Linkham !” “Aw, what's the difference ?” questioned the visitor, “ That worthy lady has been lead. for several years. and "—— “The dif- ference ?” howl- ed the angry scribe, “ What in tophet and so-and-so are we going to use for IN TOPSYTURVYLAND. by pete i DRUNKEN LaMP-rost — dowager em. A VICTIM OF THE GAMB. timesh Tae a Mtr zOST —" Thish comes in handy some- per Chiad z Moriter cow— How often have I told you not to go in that lot with those golfers. They don’t care how many times they hit you.” eee comicbooks.com