Judge, 1907-12-07 · page 27 of 48
Judge — December 7, 1907 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three Christmas-themed satirical pieces: **"A Superfluous Saint"** (top): Santa Claus tells a couple he needn't stop—they've "got all they want already." This mocks overconsumption and materialism among the wealthy during Christmas. **"A Terrible Oversight"** (left): Mr. Smith frantically awakens to realize he forgot to buy a Christmas present for *the janitor*—his household's working-class employee. The satire targets upper-class anxiety about maintaining proper social appearances and gift-giving obligations to service workers, treating this minor oversight as catastrophic. **"The Christmas Present"** (right): A poor man celebrates when a borrowed gun is returned, his lost knife is found, his taxes are reduced, and an aunt won't visit. The joke inverts typical Christmas gift expectations—his "presents" are modest practical matters and avoided obligations, highlighting class disparity in holiday experiences. Together, these pieces satirize Christmas materialism, class consciousness, and the gap between wealthy and working-class holiday experiences.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A SUPERFLUOUS SAINT. St. Nick—"Oh-ho! No need to stop here. A TERRIBLE CVERSIGHT. SAT WAS close to midnight when the Smiths finished trimmin he tree on Christmas Eve, and as they sat down to survey the work Smith yawned and remarked, “Well, I guess that winds up the big- gest job I ever tickled, and any one who mentions Christmas-tree to me again is taking big chanzes. Have we attended to everything, do you think “Yes; I think we have, Charles," re« plied his wife. “+I checked off the list of gifts this afternoon, and_ it was all right.” You surely got the hired-girl's pres- You may be sure of that.” yen any other errors don’t count, and we can go to bed and rest easy. 1 think I could sleep a week.” The Smiths retired, and Smith had just begun to dream that he was engaged in trimming a tree twenty feet high when Smith awoke him, and excitedly said, You've got to get up instantly, Charles !" « Not me !" he replied. + But you've simply got to!” Not unless the house is afire." “It’s worse than that, Charles, Oh, how could we have been so thoughtless—how could we ?” «Please keep quiet and let me go to sleep !" growled Smith, «It you think I'm going to get up on some fool errand, you're mistaken, ‘The cat's in, and everything is all right.” “But, Charles,” she went on, “you don’t understand. We've forgotten to buy a Christmas present for the janitor. For the janitor —do you understand ?” Smith lay quiet for a moment or two. Then, with a cry of dis- may, he leaped out of bed and hurriedly dressed and dashed out to see if there wasn’t yet time to correct the terrible oversight. They've gct all they want already !"* THE CHRISTMAS PRESENT. I! sing us not of Christmas past, gh that may be pleasant, face will quite suffice be our Christmas present! “How did Santa Claus treat ye this year?” ““Fust rate, Jeff Colson brought back that gun he borrowed, 1 found my old jack-knife in the woodshed, my taxes wuz redooced four dollars, an’ Aunt Eliza wrote to say she couldn't visit us." comicbooks.com