Judge — November 24, 1900 — page 2: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "A Call for Eggs" Cartoon Analysis This cartoon depicts a rooster addressing hens, with the caption: "The farmer and his son are going to that fourth-rate performance of 'Hamlet' to-night. Now—oh, don't it just beat how? Just as these eggs are almost hatched, too!" The joke is a double entendre: the rooster urges the hens to produce eggs while the farmer is away, but the text simultaneously mocks a local theatrical production of *Hamlet* as "fourth-rate." The cartoon satirizes both rural life (farmers attending questionable theater) and the poultry industry's timing concerns. The humor relies on the incongruity of farm animals discussing Shakespeare while prioritizing egg production—a common Judge strategy combining lowbrow observation with literary reference for satirical effect.