Judge, 1909-01-16 · page 5 of 16
Judge — January 16, 1909 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a serialized comic strip depicting a seafaring tall tale. The narrative follows Captain Fibb recounting an exaggerated Arctic expedition where his crew becomes trapped in ice. The panels show increasingly absurd situations: men freezing, forming a "bucket brigade" to bail water, and eventually discovering an abundant fish pool to eat from. The humor relies on classic tall-tale conventions—outlandish survival scenarios presented as fact. The accompanying text includes dialogue where Fibb's companion Hartman grows skeptical of the implausible story. The page also features "A Fool Christmas Present"—a separate satirical piece about a lost umbrella—and a bottom section showing "opera glasses" used by various family members, each revealing different humorous observations. This represents early 20th-century American comic humor mixing seafaring adventure with domestic comedy.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE YARNS OF CAPTAIN FIBB. ae ae “ Yep, I remember it just like it was yesti 2. ——When we couldn’t stand it no long- — Al of a sudden we comes across a The *Skiddoo” was nipped in the ice for er says, says I,‘ Let’s take another look around boilin’ lake, hot water sizzlin, and steamin six months near the south pole and the captain and the bloomin’ place,’ says 1, and we starts out, drops fish line in and, would you believe it? that all the crew friz to death ‘ceptin’ meand Bill Bar- more dead than alive, to take another look for pool was full of fri fuh and beled lobsters read and Mizzen Mike. We run outer provisions somethin’ to eat for the last time — toeat! We pulled "em ir as fast as we could, and coal and wuz ready to kick the bucket from and had a reg’lar feast. — hunger and cold.— 4. —— We wuz feelin 6. ——And pretty soon we has the ice all in’ for the terrible cold, wh fierce ; dumps two hundr hty-three buckets of melted and the ship afl so with a cargo of fri takes off our clothes and ju and hasareg'lar_ the boilin ice around the ship fish and boiled lobsters we sailed for home. ie sti Turkish bath, snd gits nice warmed up and and thaws it all out. — siree! that wuz a wonderful adventure, and I thawed out. —— have one of the fish-bones to prove it!" Mentally calling himself a fool in not having thought of it sooner, Hartman extended his umbrella. “Let me lend you my umbrella,” he said. “Oh, indeed, no!’’ she interrupted hastily. “It will not inconvenience me," Hartman insisted. ‘*1 am going but a few doors farther down,” he lied glibly. She hesitated but a fraction of a minute, and then took the um- brella from his hand, smiling her thanks. “Oh, [thank you, I shall return it in the morning.”” “The pleasure is entirely mine," he replicd. He had crossed two street corners before he came to a realiza- tion that he had failed to give her his name and address. He turned, hesitated a moment, then decided not to return. “She will probably insert a little advertisement in the morning paper. Or, if her desire to possess the umbrella is greater th mine, she is welcome to it. She's a deuced pretty girl, all righ! The following morning he turned first to the classified liner columns of his newspaper. “Ah, her under the personal heading," he murmured. He read it through hurriedly, an expression of blank amaze- ment dispossessing the smile. He lifted his gaze from the page, and drumming idly on the desk, he stared out of the window. Then, returning to his paper, he read the item slowly aloud, word for word, in the evident desire to grasp its full import: ““'The gentleman who loaned an umbrella to a young lady at the Williams Building during the shower of yesterday afternoon will Street, and get it of the maid, upon pay- A FOOL CHRISTMAS PRE: S ece “Fo! de lan’s sake! Some niggahs is plumb fools. What on advertisement. earth does ‘Rastus Robinson ‘spect / gwine do wid Lily White face pow i please call at 1908 Mai ment of the charges of t THE FIFLD OF ‘THE OPERA GLASSES WHEN USED BY BROTHER. BL UNCLE Jon, LITTLE Terr comicbooks.com