Judge, 1902-06-28 · page 16 of 17
Judge — June 28, 1902 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This six-panel comic depicts a young couple's deception of an overprotective mother. The "stern mamma" forbids her daughter from flirting with a young man named Willie while she sits on a park bench. Willie devises a scheme: he uses striped bass (fish) as an "inspiration" to convince the mother her eyesight is failing—that she cannot properly see the slippers he's wearing don't fit, suggesting her vision is unreliable. This allows the couple to move behind a bush undetected while the oblivious mother calls for her daughter, even sending the family dog to fetch her. The satire mocks both rigid parental supervision of courtship and the gullibility of aging parents. It reflects early 1900s social anxieties about young people's independence and romantic freedom, presenting the couple's deception as clever rather than condemnable.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Stern wauma—"' Don't stir from that’ bench till | call you—and DON'T flirt — Daucuter—"* What a nice time Willie and I might have if ma wasn't so with that young man.” awfully mean!" 4. Wiim—"' Those striped bass are an inspiration, Gertie. Your mother 's too Wnte—" Get behind that bush, now, Gertie, and I'll just turn this bench a near-sighted to discover that the slippers don’t fit.” little." 5. ‘Stern MAMMA-—"' I've called that girl seven times and she hasn't answered. Go shake her up, Fido!" COPYmGNT 1902 BY JUDGE COMPANY OF NEW YORK. A STRIPED-BASS STRATAGEM. ‘Sachett 8 Wilhelns Litho & P.g Co. New York comicbooks.com