Judge, 1907-04-20 · page 10 of 16
Judge — April 20, 1907 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This comic strip satirizes extreme laziness through the character Nervy Nat, a wealthy American man who has leased a bed for 99 years and refuses to leave it under any circumstances—not even for meals, social obligations, or a hotel fire. The humor targets both Nat's pathological idleness and the French servants' exasperation with him. Nat speaks in affected pseudo-French slang ("m'sieu," "gorry"), suggesting he's an American abroad. The satire critiques privileged leisure culture: Nat celebrates avoiding "work" entirely and dreams of dictionaries without that word. The final panel, where a police sergeant rescues him from the burning hotel only to have Nat threaten legal action, peaks the absurdity—the lazy American views even rescue as an imposition and blames his hosts for the fire, assuming they set it deliberately to force him from bed. The comic reflects early-1900s American anxieties about idle wealth and the "ugly American" abroad.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1. Nervy Nat—'*Sacred Morpheus! here's gentus for you, if you like. The laziest man in the world—stayed in bed twenty-six years. By gorry! he must be cousin of mine. The philosophy of the beggar has the earmarks of my family. That settles the question. fe Me for bed! will get up for déjedner—yes ?” jeu will get up for déjedner—no. M’sieu Is not rising this year at all, Albear. | have taken a ninety-nine-year lease on this bed. If any of the Foboor-San-Germann pups call tell ‘em I've cut society out entirely Soe cnn a 5. Garcon—"' Vite, m'sieu! The ‘ouse he is on fire ""—— Nervy Nat—‘Ah, g'wan! Quit your kidding! You interrupted me in ‘a most beautiful dream. 1 was dreaming that a new dictionary had been made with the word ‘ work‘ left out of it. Now, fade away! Go down to the pantry and dust the milk "— COPYRIGHT 1901 BY 4vOUE COMPANY PUBLIEWERD 228 FOURTH AVE. Rew YOR 2. Nervy Nat—“I'll just beat @ little freshness Into these nocturnal ear- muffs, and then, what-ho! for the snooze-shelf. Gee! why didn’t | think of this ye'rs and ye'rs ago? Think of the millions of motions and kilowatts of energy | might have saved!"* 4. Garcon—“ See, Ernestine; the poor American m’sieu has become crazy.” Nervy Nat—"'| dare you to come over here and say that again! ‘Tis you, oh. Albear! and your kind that are milky on the filbert. You drudge that you may be allowed to keep on drudging. | only am entirely sane. | toil not, but, gee! how I sleep and eat!” 6. Sercent Caouc—“ It is zat am not arresting you, Nalrvie—I am saving your idiot life—yes!"" Nervy Nat—"* You put me under obligations, Caduc, in such a gracious way. I have been seriously incommoded. old chap, and | think | shall bring sult at once against these low hotel people. I have a suspicion Caduc, that they set fire to this joint in order to make me get up.” NERVY NAT GETS INTO BED. comicbooks.com