Judge — November 16, 1901 — page 5: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This 1901 cartoon from *Judge* satirizes a newlywed couple by comparing their marriage to the Boer War in South Africa. The bride-elect says "it's all over" after the wedding, while her bridesmaid responds that marriage is "just like the war in Africa"—implying it's just the beginning of a long, difficult conflict rather than a conclusion. The joke reflects contemporary anxieties about marriage as a prolonged struggle. The reference to the Boer War (1899-1902) was timely and well-known to readers, as it was an ongoing, grueling British military campaign. By equating matrimony with this brutal conflict, the cartoon humorously suggests that marriage involves protracted hardship and conflict ahead, rather than the happy ending a bride might expect.