Judge, 1908-08-08 · page 6 of 16
Judge — August 8, 1908 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes early 20th-century **automobile culture and its dangers to rural life**. The main story, "Crosscut's Persuader," depicts a farmer's struggle against reckless motorists destroying his livestock. The narrative voice describes constructing an elaborate mechanical device—a "persuader"—triggered when a speeding automobile passes. The contraption launches the farmer's rooster (or possibly cow) at the vehicle to deter the driver. The cartoons illustrate the conflict: two figures arguing about the encounter, and a portly gentleman labeled "FEAR" confronting another man, likely representing the motorist's terror after being attacked by the flying rooster-projectile. **The satire targets**: wealthy city motorists' callous indifference to rural property damage, the farmer's ingenious but absurd solution, and the broader clash between industrial progress (automobiles) and traditional agrarian society. The humor suggests readers' ambivalence about automotive "progress"—sympathizing with the farmer's desperation while mocking his retaliatory violence.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
PATENT APPLIED FOR-SEND FOR CATALOGUE. kk at that feller seout th him on hoat—* No-e-o-ly bluctish, Ie Some mermaid must be tow CROSSCUT'S PERSUADER. medi ally ay ble of correction, Judge Cr tively, seut, tevil, Mors not coerciv tthe nerves of the cod me to qu eothe “TL was living on a fi time, edt of chick . pies, and other 4 ear my farm was pro nt te th ling to an shot night seat the main A a quivering » bucolie life, 6 this eak of wity. ghway Ie ighboring large eity n their offices in the tomobilists going t aturally my live-stock beyan tosutfer, First seme chickens, ——— NEEDED RENGVATION Tdon't, bat T tell ye now, that old meetin Jungs der the sun did you come from ?—T thought you were twenty “Oh, ju iment. Great iv pp with wi » the unwilling vietims of the id, in fact, the leader, was a red He liv ways purely nul finally a cow beea ‘The chief offender, 1 in goxagles who drove a la rnauts. divide 1 imal spirits that drove haired, red-nosed It was on sere him about ten miles « He used to emulate ezaye through my unsuspeetingg pout try with such res marks as, * Caught him on the wings.” ‘How's that for high?’ ‘Over the fene yours,” and such sporting w that Loner if TD wis nay stock left alive 1 bousght ) If am light, peedy motor. and 1 any of yele, mstructed ther Wf canvas, rubber, and Ligeht THEY DISAGREE ON DETAL 1, ae huyge fisguare Tam afraid of “Lint of the common, gays Mr. cays Bi vrs acne pi because what L yard rooster, It stood a dso that I sat on the 1 we feet high bind, ither side that they worked back and forth true to nature, *Lselected for my purpose yg at dusk, when my speedy friend came ri " in his usual facetious manner. Thon just nup the road, He \ ping after him with yred skedt by t tw The chet ed up on him and reaching That was tunate m and shutt unf n in rau ull his power Gradually 1 back of his neck with my tin bill, Hof terror, stopped road in fronton all ning pela rg MUS SK . then threw s seat, wwn in yuld not ed in the woods, urned for th With his 4g T down, utome sion of it, and 1 took jae the other longer troubled al Twas moral suasion is the thing every time cowry camatrti dudge “What is your profession?” Witness“ Lam a poet. dy snot a pr it's a