Judge, 1909-08-21 · page 7 of 16
Judge — August 21, 1909 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page presents humorous tall tales told by a boastful sea captain. The main comic strip (panels 1-6) features Captain Fibb recounting an absurd adventure: he and a companion find a floating Swiss cheese, carve it into a musical roll, insert it into a music box, and the resulting "music" attracts native peoples who treat them like royalty. The satire mocks **exaggerated storytelling** and the gullibility of listeners. The joke plays on the absurdity of Swiss cheese's holes being "musical" and natives finding this noise enchanting—poking fun at both boastful seafarers and period-typical racial stereotypes. Additional short jokes on the page satirize **domestic life** (a husband's stinginess countered by his wife's resourcefulness) and **class pretension** (a shoe salesman's marketing gimmick). The "Active Service" joke conflates military service with waiter work, mocking working-class employment euphemisms. The content reflects early 20th-century Judge magazine's brand of genteel satire targeting social pretension and male boastfulness.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
uae. THE YARNS OF CAPTAIN FIBB. 1, “Tremember oncet when me and Windy 2 —— And when it finally comes ashore we Bill wuz shipwrecked on a cannibal island, and sees that it ‘sa bang-up music box! But wh a id of Swiss cheese ! one day we wuz ac we come to start it a-goin’ we finds there ’snary a — in’ fer a sail we sees a peculiar-lookin’ object music roll in the blame thing! And what good a-floatin’ in on the tide. — is a music box if you can’t git no music out of in?—— 4. —— I takes out me carvin’ knife and care- 5. —— Then I rolls it up and puts it inter the fully peels that cheese inter a very long thin — music box, and starts the thing a-goin’, cheese didn't make the finest concert 1 ever lis- slice. — tened to, and the native niggers came from miles around to listen to the heavenly music, and bi us fruits and jewels, and treats us like kings ! Fust time [ever found out what the holes in Swiss cheese wuz fer.” SHE TOOK A PAIR. SH are these shoes?” asked the lady who had the reputation of being a keen shop- per. “Those shoes are not for sale,"’ replied the salesman, who had something of a repu- tation, too; ‘we're giving them away with every pair of shoe laces at three dollars and fifty cents."” A THOUGHTFUL WOMAN. S HIS wife's eyes sparkled over the menu card, the husband gazed across the restau- rant table at her. “Now, Clara,’? he said, in an impressive tone of voice, * while I was courting you I learned your capacity for delectable dishes, and I want to warn you right here that, although this is t t time since our marriage I have taken you out to dinner, two dollars is all I've got with me, and thut'll have to see us through !"" “Don't worry about the latter part, Will. I've brought along five dollars of the house money."* ZN GO to church to close their eyes; women go to eye their clothes, IN ACTIVE SERVICE. . “ What is your brother doing now ?"” IN BUGVILLE. . * He ‘s on active service.” + We ‘ve crossed the line into Colorado, Bill."* * Active service “Colorado?” . ** Yes—he 's a waiter.” “Yep; there's the foothills.