Judge, 1908-12-05 · page 7 of 44
Judge — December 5, 1908 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is Judge magazine's editorial greeting from its editor (the "Judge" persona), celebrating thirty years of publishing satirical humor. The accompanying illustration shows a beggar child—a sentimental Christmas figure invoking charity. The text is primarily a nostalgic roll call of contemporary humorists and illustrators who contributed to Judge, including Eugene Field ("Nye"), Bill Nye, and cartoonist Eugene Zimmerman. The editor acknowledges departed predecessors while praising current talent. The satire is gentle—this reads as insider celebration rather than political commentary. Judge positions itself as America's premier humor publication, part of a "Brotherhood of Mirth" uniting talented writers and artists. The contrasting image of poverty with this self-congratulatory text creates mild irony: while Judge's witty contributors prosper, the broader world contains need. This appears to be a holiday morale-booster for readers and contributors alike.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
a to His Readers O ALL good folks who've read my jokes throughout this pass- ing year, and still survive the task alive, JUDGE wishes Christmas cheer! Near thirty Christmases have passed since first I reared my head; for thirty years I’ve dried men’s tears and bid them grin instead. And humorists may come and go and artists live and die, yet still the pen of clever men is mine to conjure by. Though Nye is gone and dear ‘‘A. Ward’ and Phoenix and the rest, their mantles fell and landed well—to rouse new quip and jest. The sol- emncholly Lampton man still lifts his pen in song and writes us verse one-half inch wide and ten or twelve feet long; there's Loomis the cadaverous; Robertus surnamed Love; that Nesbit man, and Gillilan (please form in line— don’t shove). There’s Hoch der Kiser, Masson gay, with verse and stories rife (they say what he can’t sell to me he publishes in Life). There’s Colorado Sabin, too, and Johnny Kendrick Bangs and Uncle Ezra Moulton with the dialect that twangs; et cet- era, et cetera —their names throng to my mind, and all the crowd bring chuckles loud as gifts to human- kind. And as for artists, goodness me! they stand in glad array there's old friendZim,and Hamilton and cheerful “Ted- dy” Bray, chromatic Flohri, quaint Art Young, Kuhn's birds that have no peers, Lang's country churls, Miss Foster's girls, Will Crawford and Jack Sears. Oh, me, oh, my! Icouldn’t try to name ‘em all offhand; there’s such a lot, and each, God wot, can draw to beat the band. So let us form acircle round theearth and join the noble Brotherhoud of Mirth. comicbooks.com