Judge, 1900-11-24 · page 16 of 16
Judge — November 24, 1900 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This appears to be a satirical comic from 1900 depicting Irish-American stereotypes. The scene shows a doctor (Dr. Pinkham) examining a young woman while her father (Mr. Costigan, identified by his Irish brogue in the dialogue) stands by. The joke plays on class anxieties of the period: the father blames the family piano—a symbol of genteel, middle-class aspirations—for his daughter's mysterious illness rather than accepting the doctor's medical diagnosis. The satire mocks Irish immigrants' supposed resistance to or misunderstanding of modern medicine and education, while also poking fun at the Victorian obsession with "nervous" ailments among young women. The piano represents the family's aspirational pretensions, which the cartoon suggests is ironically what's actually harming their daughter through stress or overexertion.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
comicbooks.com COPYRIGHT 1900 BY JUOGE COMPANY OF NEW YORK: ¥ ‘Sackett Withelns Litho 8 Pg (o Rew York WHAT WAS KILLING HER. Dx. Pituam—"" Your daughter doesn't appear to have any organic disease.” Mx, Costican—'* To be shure, there's no organic disease. It's a blamed ould pianny thot's killin’ her.”