Judge, 1902-04-12 · page 7 of 16
Judge — April 12, 1902 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes an office boy's unrealistic career expectations shaped by popular fiction. Mr. Wilkins hires an exemplary employee—diligent, polite, honest—only to have the boy resign because he lacks the narrative arc he's read about in books. Specifically, the boy expected to marry his employer's daughter and become a firm partner, the classic "rags to riches" plot of contemporary office-boy fiction. The satire targets both the boy's naïveté and the romanticized literature of the era that gave working-class youth false hopes. The accompanying "Peculiarities of Our Neighbors" comics provide comic relief through absurdist scenarios: a man surviving impossible disasters versus another incapacitated by minor injury—mocking disproportionate reactions to misfortune. The page ridicules the gap between literary fantasy and mundane reality, and the unrealistic ambitions such stories encouraged among young workers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
AN AMBITIOUS YOUTH. R. WILKINS engaged a new office-boy not long ago, who seemed to combine in his own person all the vir- tues which his numerous pred- ecessors had lacked, He was wide-awake, intelligent, neat, and polite, and = more than willing to work. He neither smoked cigarettes nor chewed gum ; and, best of all, he never whistled during. office - hours. Mr. Wilkins congratulated him- self upon having secured such a treasure; but, alas! it was not for long. One morning the boy came into the private office and said, ‘A GOOD HATCH. “Mr. Wilkins, I'm afraid ‘THe Hex“ Now, just look at that! | knew that if I sat Mil have to resi on that door-knob long enough something would hatch «Dear me Mexclatnad his out, FA employer, What is the mat- y sufficient, or don't you like the place ? am quite satisfied with my salary, sir,” replied the boy, “and | like the work, tov; but "— ter? Isn't your s HIS DEFINITION. * Fader, vot is a total fire?" “A total fire, mine son, is a genooine picnic.” 1370 WP ERE nan PECULIARITIES OF OUR NEIGHBORS. This is our small, delicate neighbor, after being blown up by a subway i fyi -** Please don’t go for that apple, Mr. Pig. I'm sure it’s sour.” “Well, what is it?” The fact is, sir, E was talk ing to your book-keeper this mort ing, and he told me that you have no daughter.” “OF course | have no daugh- ter—lam a bachelor, But wh has that to do with your leaving ?” “Well, you see, sir, in all the books I have read the oflice-boy always marries his employer's daughter and becomes a memb of the firm; so, of course, since there is no chance for me here | shall have to seek a place where there are better opportunities for advancement.” aac axpenson. WHEN WE NOTICE THEM. seV ays the philosophical person, “wealth brings its disappointments. * Afier we lose it,” puts in the materialistic man. & explosion and run over by an automobile, at his office next morning, APA this is our big, healthy neighbor. Pinched his finger in the jamb of a door hustling as usual. and took to his bed for a month. comicbooks.com