Judge, 1905-06-24 · page 16 of 17
Judge — June 24, 1905 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
These two cartoons mock working-class Irish immigrants through exaggerated dialect and domestic stereotypes. **"Sweet Dreams"**: Mrs. Kelly describes a nightmare where her dead husband beat her, only to wake and realize it was her folding bed closing on her. The joke plays on the grim humor of domestic violence in Irish tenement life—presented as an amusing domestic mishap rather than tragedy. **"The Exception"**: Mrs. Cassidy complains that marriage requires understanding, but her husband (appearing befuddled) represents the "exception"—a man who *doesn't* understand. The caption suggests wives accept their husbands' incomprehension as inevitable. Both cartoons rely on heavy Irish dialect ("Oi," "yiz") and depict crude domestic scenes with sparse furnishings, reinforcing period stereotypes about Irish-American poverty and working-class family dynamics. The humor derives from ethnic caricature and normalizing marital dysfunction as comedic fodder.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ya TON Notaca’ PAT, GOUGHAN f P@RICWLAYING Ggoghan ele ARTIST, => PRCA ED. SWEET DREAMS. 0 yez often dhrame av yure dear, dead husband, Mrs. Guoghan ?* “"Yis, Mrs. Kelly. Only lasht nolght Oi dhramed thot th” dear biissed man hod me down behoind th’ shtove an’ wor beltin’ me wid th’ clot . whin Oi waked oop an’ found It wor nothin’ but th’ foldin’-bed closed up on me." shtudy a thing th’ better yez‘ll undhershtand it htedies thot th’ less he undhersh comicbooks.com