Judge, 1901-03-30 · page 16 of 16
Judge — March 30, 1901 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a whimsical anthropomorphic comic strip featuring insects with human concerns and speech. The narrative appears to involve various bugs—a duck, frog, bear, and butterfly—engaging in everyday situations rendered absurd through their insect perspective. The humor relies on incongruity: bugs discussing human problems (pocket space, sawdust composition, furnished cottages, swimming) as if they were people. Mr. Buck worries about swimming conditions; the frog frets about lacking pockets; the bear hopes his companion isn't made of sawdust (suggesting artificiality or deception among insects). The "Bugville" framing presents a parallel society where insects mirror human social anxieties and conversations. This type of anthropomorphic satire was common in *Judge* magazine—using animal characters to humorously reflect on human foibles without directly targeting specific political figures. The satire operates through absurdist observation rather than partisan commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
= = aed Mr. Buc—"'I pray, Mr. Duck, there’s no swimmin; qus-DIRKs 287 1 remember that Froc Tuinr—"Goodness me! I hear footsteps approaching—wish I had a pocket to put this in.’ copyeiont 90! 81 JUDGE COMPANY OF NEW YORK. \ Nbr AAW . Bgar—" Heavens! I hope the other one isn’t made of sawdust, too.’* cucKet BAND peapen = | pam those fafeseal B Sa spring is. low do the people us to UTTERFLY —*‘ Say, when they keep shouting all’ the time?” eey neatly furnished cottage ? OVERHEARD IN BUGVILLE.