Judge — April 18, 1903 — page 4: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of Judge Page This page contains editorial commentary and a single cartoon titled "Panacea." **The Cartoon:** Two men sit in a comfortable room. One asks if the other thinks smoking is good for a headache. The response: "Yes. My mother-in-law always leaves the room when I smoke." **The Joke:** This is a domestic humor piece playing on the common irritation of unwanted in-laws. The "panacea" (cure-all) isn't actually the smoke helping the headache—it's that smoking drives away the annoying mother-in-law, providing relief from her presence rather than from the headache itself. It's a joke about family dynamics and marital tensions, specifically regarding overbearing mothers-in-law, a perennial source of American domestic comedy.