Judge, 1902-05-24 · page 6 of 16
Judge — May 24, 1902 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes gender and consumer behavior in the early 20th century. The main dialogue mocks the supposed economic superiority women claim over money—a cynic argues women actually extract money *from* men rather than manage it wisely. The humor targets women's shopping habits: the wife spends days window-shopping and browsing (theaters, millinery, bookstores, florists) without purchasing anything, then buys "necessary things" anyway—suggesting women enjoy the *leisure* of shopping more than acquiring goods. Secondary cartoons reinforce this theme: "A Purchase" jokes that a woman's beauty is store-bought, not natural. "A Different Matter" depicts marital conflict over a wife's expensive lifestyle expectations. The page's final line references period stereotypes about Chinese immigrants and African Americans, suggesting the magazine's casual racism alongside its gender satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
AN UNUSUAL WOMAN. ONDERFUL, isn’t it,” said the cheerful soul, “how much more a woman can get out of money than a man You mean,” growled the cynic, “isn't it wonderful how much more money a woman can get out of a man than he can afford to let her have? “No, I don’t. Take my wife, for instance. Last week I gave her twenty-five dollars for her- self, and it just bewildered me to see how much she did with it.” “Tcan’t see how she could do anything with it besides spending it, unless she used it to estab- lish her credit.” Nonsense! To begin with, because she knew she had the money for her very own she spent a couple of hours pleasantly in looking up all the theatrical news to make up her mind which theatre she would rather go to. Then she spent a day in going the rounds of the millinery stores to see all the new spring styles and decide what kind of a bonnet she would like. She next spent two whole days going through the shops looking at the bargains, feeling happy because she knew that if she really wanted anything she saw she had the money in her purse to buy Next she spent a day in the book-stores pricing a lot of fine editions that she had always wanted for the library, and after that she called at all the florists’ to have a look at the orc! a “But why don't you get down to the point and tell me which of all those things she bought ?* > | Pandayn Soanens A PURCHASE. Gtapys—"" She has the fatal gift of beauty.” May—" What makes you think so?” Gtavys—'* Such glorious hair and complexion.”” May—"Oh, that isn’t a gift. | was with her when she bought it.” “She didn’t squander a cent on any of them, but had just as much fun as if she had; for in the end she spent her money on necessary things that she had intended to buy all alo A DIFFERENT MATTER. The beauty—" Bebut you told papa you could k-keep me in the style I was accustomed to.” “It says here, Samanthy, thet Reverend Toogood was a saloon passenger on tee Maleade: Beats al Rew inant oreachens do cotiap whan evrehtawey The beast L could, dear. It is the frequent changing of the from hum. styles that breaks me.” we hi i th ete a eabere ——a Chinaman stealing chickens — -and a ‘* coon” polishing shirts in a laundry. comicbooks.com