Judge, 1908-05-09 · page 16 of 16
Judge — May 9, 1908 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a children's comic strip from Judge magazine (1908) featuring "Teddy Bears"—stuffed animals named after President Theodore Roosevelt, who was wildly popular and had inspired a toy craze in the early 1900s. The plot: Johnny and his teddy bears skip school on a nice day. When their teacher catches them, the bears present him with flowers as a gift. However, a bee hidden in the bouquet stings the teacher on the nose. Panicked and in pain, he closes the school and goes home, accidentally giving the children a holiday. The humor targets both childhood mischief and the teacher's gullibility—he's easily fooled by the bears' innocent explanation, then literally pays the price. The "tender feature" in the subtitle is a pun referring to the sensitive nose. This reflects the era's gentler approach to depicting school troubles and animal companions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
uae LITTLE JOHNNY AND THE TEDDY BEARS. ‘THEIR SCHOOL IS CLOSED BECAUSE THEIR TEACHER IS STUNG UPON A TENDER FEATURE. (DELETE oy. hee 2 1, ‘The Teds and Johnny run away Upon this perfect morn in May. ‘They all with one accord decide It is too nice to spend inside. 2. But while the bears ai And while John with ‘Their master, on his way to class, Perceives them idling in the grass. 3. “You wicked boy!" he straight declares— But then the nimble-witted bears Explain they had not stopped for play, But just to pick him a bouquet. 5. ‘The falsehood lurking in the posies A bee bite on the master’s nose is. He rushes madly down the path, Bewildered, pained and wild with wrath, 4. ‘The master, pleased, accepts their gifts, And to his nose the flower lifts. “ Stung—atung again!” John whispers low. Oh, horror! it is really so! 6. In anguish dire he shuts the school And dashes home for unguents cool. “ Hurrah!" the wicked Teddies say. “ We've earned a lovely holiday!"” COPYRIGHT 1908 BY JUNGE COMPANY, PUBLISHERS, FIFTH AVENUE AND MADISON SQUARF, NEW YORK. The First Series of the adventures of “Little Johny and the Teddy Bears” is now ready in handsome book form. Price, 60 cents. For sale comicbooks.com