Judge, 1902-10-18 · page 10 of 16
Judge — October 18, 1902 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains several satirical pieces typical of early 1900s American humor: **"On Easy Street"** depicts a farmer celebrating harvest season with carefree leisure—satirizing the rural ideal of seasonal work rhythms. **"Reductio ad Absurdum"** mocks philosophical overcomplication: a scientist (Dr. Fazem) investigates a question, reaches conclusions, then endlessly re-investigates until reaching the absurd conclusion that the original question doesn't exist. It critiques excessive academic analysis. **"Up-to-Date Journalism"** satirizes newspaper sensationalism: when six people are shot, a competing paper claims twelve; the editor instructs staff to report eighteen in large type—mocking how papers exaggerate for circulation. **"The Village Life-Saver"** uses dry humor about a pharmacist receiving a "life-saving" medal, not for heroism but for running the town's only drugstore during Prohibition ("local option"), suggesting pharmacies' inflated importance in dry communities. **"Both Smoked Bad Ones"** is a brief joke about terrible cigars. The page concludes with a courtroom scene involving a vagrant claiming millions of farmers support him.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ON EASY STREET. THE crops are in, and Tam glad That's why I grin and laugh, b’dad! T now can sit through all the day And smoke and spit and checkers play, And shout “Ha, ha!” and lightly The tra-la-la and sing “Hip, hip iP Hurrah for me! the real thing, From work scot free until the spring Shall come along across the hills, Abeam with song and liver-pills REDUCTIO AD ABSURDUM. S4GPEAKING of scientific investigations,” said the gentleman with the overhanging brow, " there is my friend Dr. Fazem, the philosopher. Last win- ter he tried to solve a question by scientific methods and arrived at a conclusion in the matter; but he pushed his researches a little further and struck a new idea that disproved the first conclusion. Then he pursued the matter still further and reached a new phase of it that disproved the second conclusion, and before long he had arrived at a decision that showed plainly the fallacy of the third conclusion, But it wasn’t a week until he had reached still a fourth conclusion that abso- lutely showed that there was no such thing as the question he started out to solve.” UP-TO-DATE JOURNALISM, + Eprror—"* How many were shot?” Rerorrer—"* Six.” Epiror—"* What does the Daily Whirl say?" Rerorter—"' Twelve, sir.”” Eprror (to foreman)—* Well, make it eighteen in fat type.” THE VILLAGE LIFESAVER. SOT HERE seems to be considerable excitement in your town | to-day,” said the visitor. “Yes,” answered the native. “Several o” the fellers is presentin’ a life-savin’ medal to Henry Piller.” 4 “What sort of a hero is Piller? Did he rescue some one P| from a burning building, stop a run-away, or drag a drowning | person from the raging waves | “Nope; nothin’ like that. You see, our town has been ' local option for sigh onto a year, an’ Piller runs the only drug-store we have. ‘ BOTH SMOKED BAD ONES. Hewitt— How did you like the cigar I gave you A.D, 1602. 4). 1902, Jewett—" Oh, I have smoked worse cigars.” RUBENS'S TWO SONS. Hewitt —" You have if you have smoked any of the kind (With apologies to Peter Paul Rubens.) you give me.” BEFORE HE GOT SIX MONTHS. : ‘ | Jupoe—* You ar zed with having no visible means of support."* ‘ Weary Wituie—" W'ot! wid a farmin’ population uv twenty millions in dis fair land uv ours? Stop jokin’ me, judge,”* _—————Eomicbooks.com 7