Judge, 1902-09-13 · page 10 of 16
Judge — September 13, 1902 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top cartoon ("An Invaluable Aid"):** A senator credits his wife's cookbook with his work ethic. The joke mocks both the senator's vanity (claiming hard work as a virtue) and implicitly criticizes his wife's cooking—it was so bad he'd "sooner work than eat," and this habit persisted. The satire targets self-aggrandizing politicians. **Bottom cartoon ("Desperation in the Suburbs"):** A suburban woman reveals her secret for keeping a cook: her husband works as a policeman in the evening, presumably intimidating the cook into staying. The humor reflects early-20th-century servant-keeping anxieties among the middle class and satirizes how suburban wives managed household help through indirect coercion rather than fair wages or conditions. Both cartoons mock domestic life and social pretension.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
AN INVALUABLE AID. | Mrs. Jones—“‘ Pray tell me, senator, what book has most helped you?" | Senator SHowvown—"' My wife's first eook-book.” - | Mrs. Jones—“‘ Ah! And how did that help you?” ‘Senator SHowoow—" Why, | got so that I'd sooner work than eat, and the habit has clung to me."* DESPERATION IN THE SUBURBS. Mrs. Loxeryvitte—'' How in the world have you kept your cook so long?" My husband Mrs, Koumurer—"'Sh! Don’t tell anybody. My h up as a policeman in the evening.” comicbooks.com