Judge, 1903-09-12 · page 10 of 16
Judge — September 12, 1903 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains several unrelated satirical pieces typical of Judge magazine's humor: **"The Lame Mule"** is a tall tale poem about an Arkansas mule that kicks violently when provoked—a frontier humor trope about unpredictable animal behavior and the need for caution around dangerous creatures. **"The Limit"** mocks rural townspeople's incompetence: two country men claim their volunteer fire company is so slow that a burning building would burn to the ground before they arrived—satirizing small-town inefficiency. **"The Deficiency Is Supplied"** jokes about college-educated sons who fail at life: a father notes that while "youth's lexicon" contains no word for "fail," his sons have demonstrated plenty of *synonyms*—poking fun at educated but unsuccessful young men returning home. The six-panel cartoon depicts a starving traveler's dream involving an ostrich and a lasso, labeled a "dope dream"—likely referencing opium or drug use creating surreal, comedic visions. These pieces showcase Judge's mix of frontier nostalgia, small-town mockery, and generational humor.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE LAME MULE. HEN I lived down in Arkan- Beside the river of that name, A rule we had, as good as lw— “Keep away from the mule that's lame.” And all the buys along the range Who know the nature of that beast Can tell you, if to you he's strange, Provoked, his heels will rise like yeast. Just touch him up a little bit When dreamy like he's moping round, And that game leg will have a Of motion that may well astound ‘A man unused to mulish ways. So pick you out a place to land When his old eyes begin to blaze And lopping ears begin to stand ; For when he's riled you bet he'll throw Those heels about in wicked wrath, And with a motion hardly slow Remove obstructions from their path. An ear will flop, a heel will rise (And if that sixth word lose an +e" St Meporrs— And gain an “1,” there are no flies Josh Harraxe— Thercon—it means the same PARTIALLY SUCCESSFU: . 64MERCY !" exclaims Mrs. Wunder. “The paper tells of a woman who tried to kill herself by drinking a bottle of furniture-polish.” ill her?” asks Mr. Wunder. (0; but it came near i | “Huh! Only got an interior finish.” aN NN ayy \ THE LIMIT. 1 s'pose ye seen some purty high bulldin’s in N' York, Josh?” ‘High, Silas? Why, say! ef we hed one o° them buildin’s here in Chubb's Corners, see). an’ It caught fire on th’ top floor, I'm durned ef I don't think our volunteer hose-company would git t° th’ wey. fire before it burned t' th’ ground.”* ‘THE DEFICIENCY IS SUPPLIED. 66 6]N THE bright lexicon of youth,’ quotes the visitor, «* there is, no such word as fail." * Maybe not,” answers the father, gazing abstractedly at his two sons, who have come home from college to live with him; “maybe not, but I guess there's plenty of synonyms.” 4. . 5. 6 THE STARVING TRAVELER, THE TANTALIZING OSTRICH, AND THE IMPROVISED LASSO—A DOPE DREAM IN SIX NAPS. oe comicbooks.com