Judge, 1906-03-03 · page 16 of 16
Judge — March 3, 1906 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a serial comic strip following "Nervy Nat," an Irish character (indicated by the accent and dialect), who creates chaos by stealing a baby carriage in London's prestigious Kensington Gardens. The satire targets: 1. **British class pretension**: The nursemaid is distracted by a soldier's uniform ("eleven brass buttons and a monkey-jacket"), neglecting her charge—mocking the British upper class's vanity and the servant class's gullibility. 2. **Military posturing**: References to "cavalry maneuvers" and "infantry" satirize the British military's prominence in public life. 3. **Parenting incompetence**: The comic ridicules both nursemaids and mothers as neglectful guardians. 4. **Kidnapping jokes**: The final panel's reference to "kidnappin'" makes light of child abduction, which was a real contemporary crime concern. The humor relies on Nervy Nat's Irish roguishness disrupting British propriety in a fashionable location. The strip appears designed for working-class readers who enjoyed seeing the respectable classes and their institutions mocked.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1 Nexvy Nar—" What ho! A spirit of adventure seizes the British tadpole, The British nursemaid wantonly neglects her charge. "Tis mar- velous how lovely woman is doped by eleven brass buttons and a monkey- jacket." Nurse—"' Good-bye, ‘Enry. See you to-morrow at the sime plice, at foive-an’-twenty parst two." Nervy Nat—" You better make that a date to get married, me girl, for you'll be out of a situation by the dawn's early light. It's a month of Thursday afternoons since larst | rode in a horseless carriage. Tue sissus | Nurse Nervy Nat—"' Mama!" JATH AVE. WOW YORK, Nervy Nat—"I'll take a snooze in this brat-buggy and dream of me childhood days. It's a trifle short, but I've slept in Pullmans. Mary Jane is 30 engrossed with the cavalry manceuvres she doesn’t notice the retreat of the infantry. The enemy now takes possession of the abandoned trench."” ‘Tue uissus—‘* Whatever ts the matter with Master Archibald, nurse? He seems to be very much swollen,” Nurse—" Nothink, mum, as Oi knows of. "E's bean farst asleep the ole arfternoon, mum." Nervy Nat—"'It's a wise mother that nurses her own chee-tid. | will now give them heart-disease." 6. Kidnappin’ ‘s the gime now, eh?” 10h, pooh, officer! nothing of the kind. Experl- menting—nothing more, my dear fellow. My theory Is, elther abolish the military or chain your nursemaids to the perambulators,”” NERVY_NAT_IN KENSINGTON GARDENS.