Judge, 1907-01-19 · page 16 of 16
Judge — January 19, 1907 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a six-panel comic strip featuring "Nervy Nat," a recurring Judge character known for affected, pretentious speech and romantic misadventures. Here, Nat attempts to seduce a peasant girl with flowery language and lunch invitations in a rural setting. She initially accepts his advances enthusiastically ("Vingt-trois!"—twenty-three, suggesting eagerness). The joke centers on mistaken identity: what Nat assumes are the girl's romantic embraces are actually those of her trained bear, which he mistakes for her affection. When he realizes the truth, he flees, complaining about the country and ironically noting he avoided making puns on the word "bear"—a meta-joke about the comic itself. The satire targets pretentious city men attempting rural seduction with flowery language and class assumptions, only to be humiliated.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1, Nervy Nat—“Prithee, oh, beauteous nymph of the potato-patch! the sun Is high, and twere well to feast. In other words, wilt join meh in do- ing Justice to this luncheon of mine? Sit with meh by ye purling brockletine and we will feed each other pité-de-something sandwiches "— Peasant cint—" Vingt-trois!"* 3. Nexvy Nat—"* Now, you Just stop, you sassy peasantine! So you've changed your mind? Well, I've a good notion not to give you a crumb of lunch. Gee! but you must have taken a post-graduate course in the hugging college. Your embraces are not unlike a cinnamon bear's."” S. Nervy Nat—"* Monsieu’, if this impossible mammal, this fur-bearing bar- nace, belongs to you, be good enough to call It off. It would make a lovely motor-coat: but all my machines are in Paris, so I really can’t use It. If you hadn't arrived fust now your little pet would have had acute indigestion, as | couldn't have possibly agreed with him." 2. Nervy Nat—" Well. of course, if she won't she won't: but, by golly! these sandwiches are all to the beneficent... 1 know a lot of skirts at home that would have made a regular subway-rush-hour leap at the chance. Pershaw! I'd rather eat alone, anyhow: it saves whole cubic feet of repartee. Besides, I can smack my lips all I like and be gloriously unrefined." 4. Nervy Nat—"‘Holy life and accident insurance! I thought there was something in that hydraulic caress that was not quite girlish. Lookahere, you! your affection is entirely misplaced if that's what your embraces signify. ‘on the other hand, you look upon me in the light of nourishment | can pro! tse you that nothing you ever ate would disagree with you as much as | ""—— 6, Nexvy Nat—" Hereafter I shall eat in town—the country Is ho place for a gentleman. There is one thing | may congratulate myself upon—not one pun on the word ‘bear’ escaped from under my mustache."* COPrmaNT 1907 BY JUOGE COMPANY PUBLISMIRS 228 FLAIR APE. REw Focin NERVY NAT, HIS LUNCH, AND THE TRAINED BEAR. comicbooks.com