Judge, 1904-01-16 · page 6 of 16
Judge — January 16, 1904 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains multiple satirical cartoons and humorous vignettes typical of early 20th-century American humor: **"Evening in Suburbia"** (top): A poetic lament about suburban commuter life—the exhausted worker burdened by mortgage debt and domestic responsibility, with a menacing dog as dark comic punctuation. **"The Difference"** (middle-left): A crude joke about marriage vs. courtship, using working-class dialect for comic effect. **"Out of Plumb"** and **"Cause for Pride"**: Short quips about dishonesty ("crooked") and automobile accidents (a new-technology mishap). **"Helping 'Hands'"** (bottom): Card-playing con artists spotting a wealthy drunk, planning to swindle him through poker. The dialectal speech ("fo'," "p'raps") marks them as working-class hustlers. The satire targets: suburban debt-burden anxiety, marital disillusionment, class stereotypes via dialect humor, and petty criminal opportunism. The tone is cynical, working-class-focused humor typical of Judge's editorial sensibility.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
HE sun behind the purpling hills hath rolled, And soulful signs along the landscape bare Slowly along the terra-cotta wold The lone commuter wearily doth fare, Laden with bundles large and many a care, While the wind tints his horn with rosy gold. So still it is that he can almost hear The-mortgage working overtime, alack ! He sadly smiles and thinks the joke immense. ‘And, silhouetted dangerously near, The yellow canine with the razor back Sharpens himself against the yielding fence. mucene Geary. efit th IKEY'S ACCOMPLISHMENT. “| wouldn't spread the eagle, but the dollar-sign—I could do it in my sleep.” OUT OF PLUMB. ssHE ISN'T exactly * straight,’ is he ?” “No. He is so ‘crooked’ that it would take about four yards of corkscrew to measure him.” CAUSE FOR PRIDE. i Aaron Allred— What's Jay Green so tarnation hiked about, anyhow 2” THE DIFFERENCE. Mpsahee any F Cristie — Is dat her fiance?” Abner Appledry— Run over yisterday by an automobile Maccie—""Naw! Dats de guy she’s goin’ ter marry.”” that cost ‘leven hundred dollars.” Levens HELPING “HANDS.” Ebery time dat gent buys a drink he pays fo’ it wif a ten-dollar bill. Why. he's filthy wif money.” Mr. Suanre—"' Ef de genelman cares to ‘sit In’ at our game, p'raps we kin clean up sum ob his filth fo’ him."* comicbooks.com