Judge, 1907-01-12 · page 16 of 16
Judge — January 12, 1907 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This six-panel comic follows "Nervy Nat," a character known for his exaggerated reactions to misfortune. The plot: a French messenger informs Nat he's won ten million francs in a lottery. Overjoyed, Nat faints and falls into the Seine River. A dog rescues him, but then the messenger returns with bad news—Nat actually *didn't* win; the ticket behind his did. Enraged, Nat threatens to strangle the messenger. Later, while being eaten by a crocodile, Nat maintains dark humor, offering himself as a meal "with salt and pepper." The satire targets two things: lottery fever (the period's gambling mania) and a stock comedic character type—the hapless "everyman" whose terrible luck and sardonic wit made him popular in early 20th-century humor magazines. The joke is that Nat's misery escalates absurdly, yet he remains sarcastically composed throughout.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1, Messencer—" Monsieu‘, you have ween ze prize extraordinaire in ze lottery —ten million francs !"* Nervy Nat—" Tut-ten—mum-million—fuf-francs—— Oh! catch me—I'm 3. Nexvy Nat—""Well, upon my vocabulary! here comes one of those life- saving muts, Here, Fido, put on a little more speed. I'm getting iock-jaw in my legs. If you are going to rescue me you'll have to get a convulsive wiggle on, There's a young shad sampling my left calf."" 5, Messenorr—"' Pardon, monsieu’, ‘as been one small meestake. Eet was ze nomber behind yours what ween ze lottery. 1 am most sorry, yes!"" Nervy Nat—" WHAT! After putting me to the trouble of fainting into the Seine! Young man, if you have any last messages to leave for your plebelan family, do so, as | intend to strangle you, gently, but conclusively.”* The Fest Series of Nero BERN Yi NAT, NEARLY, atures ts now ready, sol bie mil Address. Li 2. Nervy Nat—"' Great rebates! That was an awfully tactless speech of that messenger person's. Imagine breaking a hunk of news like that to a man whc is draped on the narrow top of atwall! It made even my steel nerves turn tc bonny clabber. If he'd had a quarter of a pound of sense he would have led up to It gradually.”” 4. Nervy Nat—“‘If you could wait till we get on dry land, old chap, | could get you some salt and pepper. It makes a pile of difference in the flavor of an arm. | hope you are quite hungry because here's my right arm, too. Nobody's touched it and it will only be wasted if you don’t take it.” 6. Sercent Capuc—* You are one bleed-thirsty “— Nervy Nat—" Ah, say, Caduc, this was mean of you! You might have let me kill that feller. I wouldn't have made any muss, honest to goodness, old feller!" INE, th uk Te COPYRIGHT 1908 BY JUDGE COMPANY PUBLIENERS 228 FOURTH AVE. REDW YOR + 10 cents additionas sor postage comicbooks.com