Judge, 1907-09-07 · page 18 of 18
Judge — September 7, 1907 — page 18: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a children's comic strip playing on the popularity of "Teddy Bears"—toys named after President Theodore Roosevelt. The narrative follows young Johnny traveling home by train with his teddy bears, accompanied by a pet hen and pig given by Uncle Ben. The humor derives from slapstick chaos: the hen, frightened aboard the train, escapes. When the conductor tries to collect her fare, she vanishes. The pig panics and flees down the aisle, eventually bolting from the train. The absurdist payoff: newspapers report the conductor has been "kidnapped by a pig." The satire is genteel and whimsical—typical of Judge's family-friendly content of this era. It mocks the sensationalism of newspaper headlines ("CONDUCTOR 'S KIDNAPPED BY A PIG!") by presenting a ridiculous scenario as breaking news. The "Teddy Bear" reference, still novel in 1907, anchors the strip in contemporary popular culture.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Aiage LITTLE JOHNNY AND THE TEDDY BEARS. THEIR VACATION ENDS, AND THEY TAKE THE TRAIN FOR HOME. UNCLE GIVES THEM A PET HEN AND A TAME PIG TO TAKE WITH 1HEM. 1, Vacation ‘s over. What a pity! 2. You can imagine the surprise John takes the Teds back to the city. That here meets the conductor's eyes. See the nice gifts from Uncle Ben— The Teds are scared, and Johnny, too, A big tame pig and nice fat hen. While piggy hides himself from view, i biddy hen, scared to a fit, 4. Old biddy hen, > Makes up her mind i's time to ft Has signaled for the train to stop. Conductor reaches for her fare, This scares the pig beneath the seat, And suddenly finds she is not there. And he leaps forth with all his feet. 5. He rushes wildly down the al ut down the track they madly go. 6. Just how this happened we don't know, And the conductor rides a whi ‘The papers said in letters big. Of course, at such a funny sight, . John and the Teds how! with delight. “ CONDUCTOR 'S KIDNAPPED BY A PIG!" COPYRIGHT 1907 BY JUDGE COMPANY, PUBLISMERS, 295 FOURTH AVE, NEW YORK. comicbooks.com