Judge, 1904-05-07 · page 10 of 20
Judge — May 7, 1904 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Judge magazine page satirizes Native Americans touring with Buffalo Bill's Wild West shows. The main poem mocks the contradiction between performers' "civilized" pretensions (they read Greek plays, enjoy Beethoven, appreciate art) and their commercial purpose: entertaining audiences with stereotypical "wild Indian" performances. The satire cuts both ways—criticizing both Native performers for capitulating to commercialism and white audiences for demanding degrading spectacles. The surrounding cartoons are unrelated humor: a domestic joke about a new "meringue" pie, a fishing anecdote, and rural Maine jokes about frozen potatoes and subscription debts. The final cartoon shows a mirage joke typical of period magazine filler. The page reflects late-19th/early-20th-century attitudes toward Native Americans as performers and curiosities, treating their participation in Wild West shows as inherently absurd.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
H, WE'RE the tame Indians that whoop with a will And yank in the shekels for Buffalo Bill, We're not half as wild as you'd think from our yells; We're fond of pink te You'd dd we at caramels. F suppose, as we whirl round the course, All gaudily pa ‘That we're abor «l, upon the wild horse, cs, cultured, refined, And striving each day to develop the mind, HOW IT LOOKED AND TASTED. 46] IZZIE’s come home frum th’ city with a lot o’ newfangled cook- in’ idees,” said Mr. Med- dergrass. “Fixed up a new kind of custard-pie last night with what she called a mee-rang on top of it.” “ Mee-rang ?" said Mr. Cartapple. “Now, what ‘n airth’s thet like?” © Hanged if I know. Somepin’ like sweetened soapsuds.” IKE WALTON ANEW. ALTHOUGH we tong for angling skill, There is no use in /- / wishin’ were an artificial way learn the art o° Farmer Oarain— AN ABORIGINAL TOOT. We read all the papers, we like the Greek play, the bow-wow that's cooked A la Creole. love color studies of mountain and shore ond of Beethov. Schubert We love charlotte russe, though we're not above hash, And still we are Indians who're out for the cash. HIS ONLY HOPE. fishin’. Weekly Clarion fer twenty years in advance.”” A thirsty tourist thought he saw an oasis— A MAINE MIRAGE, jow are ye goin’ ter get rid of all them frozen pertaters ?”” een Farmer Corncris—" Derned ef | know—unless | pay up my subscription ter th’ Podunk When ‘tis And that’s why we caper for Buffalo Bill And let out the war-whoop that’s strident and shrill, And hurl the long lasso and do the war-da To give the big crowd a good taste of roman “Tis over to London we're shortly to sail— ‘The canvas and smoke flap about in the gale. And when we are there we'll be Indians of taste, And always asthetic and never strait-laced. Of Watteau and Whistler we'll dream with a will, And shout loud the es of Buffalo Bill, THE TROUBLE. 6¢EVERY man is the architect. of his own fortune,” declares the human quotation- mark. “Quite so," agrees the w ded pl losopher. “But 1 ha observed that he usually attempts to build it on plans suggestive of the fashion- magazine hints on * How to construct a neat suburban home for fifteen hundred dollars.’ THE DIFFERENCE. IFE is light as any feather If we're steering clear of fogs ; And ‘tis’ only “beastly weather and dog T Ry ONE OF JONES'S CAKES OF SHAVING SOaP “Tate LaTner That ooes Nir “oun niet —But it only proved to be another mirage. comicbooks.com