Judge, 1902-12-20 · page 32 of 52
Judge — December 20, 1902 — page 32: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This six-panel comic strip contrasts wealthy and poor Christmas experiences. A rich aunt sends her nephew Tom expensive sermons as a gift—he's disappointed. Meanwhile, "Nona the newswoman" (a working-class woman selling newspapers) has no money for her children's presents and seems desperate. The narrative twist appears to culminate in a "miracle": Nona receives money "direct from" her benefactors, allowing her family a proper Christmas. The strip satirizes class disparities while endorsing charitable giving as a solution. The title suggests divine intervention, but the actual mechanism is wealthy patrons' generosity. The humor relies on period-specific details: "varsity scrub" (college slang), Irish dialect ("wid'out," "prisint"), and the figure of the struggling newswoman—a common symbol of urban poverty in early 20th-century American literature and journalism.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Ricn oto aunt—"' I'll send Tom this copy of Dr. Goodthing’s sermons Tom (of the ‘varsity scrub)—"* Ah, ha! From Aunt Amelia. Some- and put in one hundred dollars as a surprise.” thing great, you bet. 3. 4 “Well, I'll be jiggered! Sermons! !"* Nona (the newswoman)—"' Sure, ‘tis a cold Christmus, and the childer. wid'out one wee bit of a prisint, an’ —— (Bang!) “ < famine _ Sure, it's a great Christmus we'll have, an’ the money kim direct Glory to the saints! Be | dr'amin’ ?" trons bavi, Hallelujah" COPYRIGHT 1902 BY JUDGE COMPANY OF NEW YORK ‘THE NEWSWOMAN'S CHRISTMAS MIRACLE. ‘Sackett & Withetms Litho & Pig Co. New York, comicbooks.com