Judge, 1909-07-10 · page 5 of 16
Judge — July 10, 1909 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Judge magazine page contains three satirical pieces: 1. **Top illustration**: "Prehistoric Circus" depicts cavemen operating a circus with dinosaurs, setting up an absurdist scenario for the story below. 2. **Main story**: "An Incident at the Prehistoric Circus" is a dialogue between a Skeptic and a Genial Philosopher about prehistoric times. The Philosopher claims he attended a prehistoric circus where animals performed. The humor derives from the anachronistic impossibility of this claim—using prehistoric settings to mock credulous belief in tall tales or exaggerated historical accounts. 3. **Bottom cartoons**: "The Difference" jokes about automobiles versus horses (a contemporary reference to early 1900s vehicle debates), while "A Woman's Weight" depicts a woman being weighed, likely satirizing contemporary anxieties about women's appearance or weight. The page employs absurdist humor typical of Judge's satirical style.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
PREHISTORIC CIRCUS, AN INCIDENT AT THE PREHISTORIC CIRCUS. By an Eye-witness. ES, SIR," said the Genial Philosopher, filling up his glass for an unnumbered time, “* [know what I am talking about. Man lives more than one life on this little old ball of joy and trouble that we call the earth. We needn't think that just because we are getting near the end of our rope the earth is done with us for all time. If we've been here before, the chances are that we'll come again, and for my part I hope we will, for it’s @ pretty snug little cozy-corner after all."” “But how do you know this?’ asked the Skeptic. ‘* Ever been here before yourself?" . ure!" said the Genial Philosopher. ‘* How would I remem- ber things that took place whole centuries before I was born if I hadn't?” Here the old fellow laughed and slapped his knee gleefully. “ By gory,” he cried ecstatically, “I guess if it wasn't so, I couldn't remember a prehistoric circus I went to back in the a, m, of time with my old friend Billie Stonemug. Lord save us, what a day that was! Billie and I played hookey from the quarry, where we were being taught to chisel out our autographs on slabs of stone, and skipped off to the circus, The manager happened to be a little ‘THE DIFFERENCE. ¢'s.a lot of difference between an auto and a horse.” ‘They kick at different ends." “Th “Right you are. short-handed that day and he let us in free for services rendered. I agreed to hold the hoop in the antediluvian Marathon, while Billie, who was a rash youth even for the stone age, undertook to ride the Educated Pip. Poor kid! You sce, the race was for the Go As You Please Championship of Prehistoria, and the animals had been in training for it for three thousand years. I thought it was suflicier honor to be allowed to hold the hoop, but Billie had always bee sort of bronco-buster, anyhow, and nothing short of playing the jockey would do for him, Well, the first eighty thou: run off in three days, and at one time the Elephoodle was a a little later the Alligaturtle managed to sneak the lead, and then the two-horned Wallaguzoo took the first place, with the Ei d Pip always last, largely because he insisted on flying the other “Oh, the Educated Pip was a bird, eh?" asked the Skeptic. ind miles were A WOMAN'S WEIGH.