Judge, 1906-02-24 · page 14 of 14
Judge — February 24, 1906 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical comic strip about an American character ("Nervy Nat") celebrating George Washington's birthday while in London, apparently to needle the British. The humor operates on several levels: **The premise**: Nat attempts to stir up patriotic American sentiment in London by loudly celebrating Washington and American independence—deliberately provocative to British audiences. **The satire**: The comic mocks both Nat's brash, disruptive behavior and British social pretense. British characters react with scandalized indignation to his loud celebrations near monuments (including one to King George III), while Nat continues undeterred. **The speech patterns**: Characters speak in exaggerated drunk or working-class dialects ("Washin'on," "H'ray"), which Judge uses to demean both the rowdy American and his British observers. **The point**: Judge satirizes American jingoism abroad and British stuffiness, presenting the clash as absurdly comic. The 1908 date suggests this reflects Anglo-American tensions of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
selves are newspapers actually print the date once in a while. ‘our George's birthday and ‘ yours hastily ‘ over here. Well. | cai celebrate. I'm distinctly opposed to habitual gargling, but to-day I shall not exactly resign my seat on the sprinkler, but, by gum! I'll let one foot drag 3. Nenvy Nat—"'Now, then, you human remnants, hats off and three cheers for George Washington, the father of his country, including Mott Haven and Perth Amboy!"" Two orxrtewen—"* Hip, hip, hurray!"* Nervy Nar—" 5. Ladies, gents. flower-girish, ‘n’ cabbies! thigh Is the t that the late G. Washin‘on—hurray!—gave third degree. Thash wha’ ‘George Three’ meansh, Some folks kow-tow to “generate deuce-spotsh like thish lad. No “countin’ f° tashe ""—— CoPrnisnt 1908 #y JVOGE COMPANY PUBLISHERS, 728 FOURTH AVE, MEO YORE 'y you're celebrating some one’s birthd'y es: a very particular friend's. This ts m preliminary skirmish. When | get under full steam Feb. 22d that all Londoners will say, ‘ This is burg on the blooming blink.’ "* Nerve Nar—‘Hands up! Three gr four roushing cheers for G. np Washin'on—firsh in war, firsh Airsh in heartsh beas'ly workin’ clashes! H'ray! Now on to South ‘aia ‘with yer!” / "'m sure you ought to be ashamed o° yourself, tikin’ on this w’y A! hinsultin’ hour hinstitutions!"* M' frien'—m’ old frien’ an’ protector—speak harshly to me if ycu wil I'm In p'ticular'y b'tific state of mind—nothing dish- turds. Four ‘nya half cheersh f Washin’on!”” ~~ Comicbooks.com