Judge, 1907-11-02 · page 16 of 16
Judge — November 2, 1907 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humorous six-panel story exploiting the early 1900s "Teddy Bear" craze. Little Johnny and his toy teddy bears go chestnut-picking on a farmer's property despite a "No Trespassing" sign. When the farmer catches them and climbs a tree in pursuit, a branch breaks, sending what he believes are real bears raining down on him. The farmer flees in terror, never discovering the "bears" were actually Johnny's stuffed toys. The joke relies on two ironies: the farmer's near-sightedness causes him to misidentify toys for dangerous animals, and the Teddy Bears—named after President Theodore Roosevelt and wildly popular as children's toys—inadvertently protect Johnny through the farmer's fearful misconception. The satire gently mocks both the farmer's gullibility and contemporary Teddy Bear mania.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LITTLE JOHNNY AND THE TEDDY BEARS. THEY GO CHESTNUTTING AND ARE CAUGHT BY THE PARMER WHO OWNS THE TREES, AND—— BUT SEE FOR YOURSELF WHAT HAPPENED. 2. And here's a notice, which they read, And from their happy looks we know And then decide they will not heed; They're going chestnutting. The sack For who'd expect a Teddy Bear ‘They'll need to take the chestnuts back. For such a legal thing to care? |. Just when they're having loads of fun 4. The old, near-sighted man can't see, They see a farmer on the run— But thinks they're all boys in the tree, And from all signs we rather guess And yells at each one, ** Come down, bub, He's going to butt in more or less. And get a taste of this here club!” 5. And while he's raging to and fro, 6. Of course, at such a fearful sight And telling what he's going to do, The farmer ‘s nearly dead with fright. The limb breaks, and the farmer sees No doubt he never will look back Fierce bears just raining from the trees. To see what John 's got in his sack. COPYRIGHT 1907 BY JUDGE COMPANY, PUBLISHRES, 235 POURTH AVE. NEW YORK.) ‘The Piret Series of the adventures of “ Little Johnny and the Teddy Bears” is now ready in handsome book-form, Price, 60 cents. For sale by book-dealers every where, or sent postpaid apon receipt of price by Judge Company, 225 Fourth Avenue, New York. comicbooks.com