Judge, 1905-01-14 · page 6 of 16
Judge — January 14, 1905 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humorous advice article satirizing both poverty and poor domestic planning. The title's specific price ($3.57) mocks budget-conscious readers attempting to build an inexpensive dwelling ("bug-house" slang for a cheap, shabby house). The satire works through absurd, impossible suggestions: using "divorce grounds" as a foundation, extracting walnut shells as walls, collecting "pains" from rheumatic elderly people as window fillings, and using subway steps as stairs. The final section on kitchen fittings darkly jokes about suicide ("hold your gun-muzzle toward you"). The accompanying illustrations and related brief jokes ("Another Russian Blunder," "Slightly Mixed," "A Hopeful Still") appear to be typical Judge magazine filler—unrelated satirical cartoons mocking Russian naval mishaps, class conflicts, and domestic incompetence. The overall message targets working-class aspirations to homeownership while mocking the absurdity of extreme penny-pinching and poor planning.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
HOW TO BUILD A BUG-HOUSE FOR THREE DOLLARS AND FIFTY-SEVEN CENTS. Wicked City. From Country Life 1 following directions, if closely carried out, will place a nice, cozy bug-house within the reach of all If you possess grounds for divorce, or even grounds for separation, you have If you have neither your cook will gladly supply you with coffee grounds, For thirty cents you should be able to purchase a salt-cellar, After carefully removing all the salt place the cellar in the centre of your rou While at school the reader undoubtedly obtained a fair foundation in read- ing, writing and arithmetic. Lay this foundation on your cellar Extract the ails from a pound of large English walnuts, | very careful not to crack them, In these cut as many doors and windows as you desire and set upon the ation. Any old lady with rheumatism will cheerfully give you more than enough pains to fill your windows, Instead of walking to business mornings take the subway until you have saved enough steps to make the stairs for your house. A system of electric bells is expensive and yets out of order easily, Bluchells are yours for the picking. effect if you use flower-beds in the sleeping- any milliona ing for you with all the chairs of belles-lettres, applied science, romance lanyu: and make a pleasi ambers. are As to furniture, ther res who would be only jad to endow seats of learn- ses, ete, that go with them. From the same source you can obtain multiplication-tables for your dining-room and library. attractive little by house should not execed the followin Salt -¢ thirty cents; walnuts, twenty-seven cents; ritle-range, three dollars ; to: tal (exclusive of steam-plants), three dollars and fitty-seven cents, AN BLUND! SSPYOES Rapidboy live within his ANOTHER RUSS D income What's the matter, Mr. WI ? Wt Matter ? b 1 just went to me for a Jap submarine boat and made me look like fleet of Ru “Yes; within a few thousands. what's the matter.” of it The kitchen fittings ar more of a problem. ‘The most economical plan is to buy a second-hand rifle some cheap sh On this, if you are careful to hold y gun-muzzle toward you, you will have little ditli culty in cooking your own goose, settli Nothing, to streteh the syour hash, etc now remains but large mouth on moonheams over the top of your house. In order to guard against leaks it is well to knock the tar out of some dear friend and fill in all the chinks a revices with it A few anle-trees or whiftle trees atford de tnd a bed of steam-plant wreatly to the beauty of a kuwn, st vstly and require the care of a competent son is goin’ ter turn out a refor estimate: the probably teachin’ him various items inthis all comicbooks.com