Judge, 1909-12-04 · page 18 of 48
Judge — December 4, 1909 — page 18: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three interconnected satirical pieces about Christmas excess and its consequences: **"The Bills"** (top left) is a poem lamenting post-Christmas financial ruin. It parodies Edgar Allan Poe's melancholic style, with the speaker obsessing over mounting holiday debts—a relatable complaint about Christmas overspending. **"Some Christmas Truths"** (right) offers cynical observations about holiday traditions, suggesting Christmas carols are hollow, gift-giving is obligatory, and family gatherings are joyless—satirizing commercialized Christmas hypocrisy. **"Afterward"** and **"The Dime Novel Boy"** (bottom) appear to mock both post-holiday financial desperation and the escapism of cheap popular fiction. The final illustration shows money-saving devices riddled with holes—the "Santa Claus worm" eating away at savings—a visual metaphor for how Christmas spending devours finances. Overall, Judge satirizes 1890s-era consumer culture and middle-class anxiety about holiday expenses consuming their resources entirely.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
BIRCH BIER. THE BILLS. SOME CHRISTMAS TRUTHS H, ALARUM Christmas bills i be Conger Hy Edwin L. Sabin Edgar Alten Poe) Christmas pastor who ver given slipper! howght of such a lack, tis tru nigght, Makes rhymsters far from fill me with allright! chipper.) even seem to shriek, nat of them speak the Christe of duration he'd req Christmas prospects thus begat To poets are benumbing.) r they're hige I require, ite endeaver I singe the Chri With neithe k such families t joke-smiths "twould be Oh, what Anw Now Now to sp + Oh, my bills, bills, bills! What a tale their presence tells (What a tale of presen How they rise u How they fill me with How they fill me wit Yet th r fully 5) eh Tsing hiristinay Presents, and despair) t With family denat (A sealskin jacket her Wins poyndiy Inurdation,) ter joyed employed wl when she telly him of the bills y bills Of the bills, bills, bills, bills, T xine the: Ch Bills, bills, bills, With whis Of the taunting, of the hauntinye Christmas bills! (Atal yot the faet Pd ak A “touching Ch tory entitled “Uh: Dear Chilren,”” which brought AFTERWARD. , THE DIME-NOVEL BOY. Losing these truths, with coward x WAS the day after ¢ tmas and all through the flat ih, N BOLD de ‘The air was as blue as the birds on ma’s b sow in feate minute He plans For now that the bills for t «of the laws, ight #ttack ta Claus Hut Pshacn't sing them very much, ‘Te held Vas cussed * For there's i And till h THE SANTA CLAUS WORM CERTAINLY DOES EAT HOLES IN THINGS.