Judge, 1910-12-03 · page 30 of 52
Judge — December 3, 1910 — page 30: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This nostalgic essay by Charles Battell Loomis recounts the author's childhood Christmas anticipation in 1870s Brooklyn. The narrative humor derives from contrasting Victorian-era Christmas customs with contemporary (1920s) expectations. The illustrations depict period details: a child peering through a keyhole at hidden gifts; Santa delivering toys; and a young man hesitating under mistletoe—a common courtship scenario of the era. The satire is gentle, not political. Loomis humorously emphasizes how Christmas anticipation stretched from January through November, how parents hid presents in bureau drawers, and how New York City seemed distant and largely irrelevant to Brooklyn children except for train rides to the countryside. The "True Friend" dialogue at bottom—about smelling Christmas turkey—appears unrelated advertising or filler content typical of Judge's layout. The piece celebrates nostalgic Americana rather than critiquing social conditions or politics.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
WONDER if they have Christmas now-a-days. They used to I when Twas a boy. [remember that we children began te forward to it some time in January and grew more and more impatient as the winter turned into spring and that in turn became rand still no Christmas, But of November sur along toward the hints th hand began to be t Christe was nigh at y and more rumerous in the household and even in the stores. Perhaps we'd be looking thing and we'd come cinating bundle of curious shape in the top bureau draw in grand- mother's room and when we asked her what it was she'd hurry in and say, “Little boys mustn't: snooy and then we knew it was “Christ- mas” because for the rest of the y could “snoop pleased and mother wouldn't: say a word Yes, and the day before Christmas brother — discovered something long and flat with steel runners, under the bed in sister's room Brother was three years younger than I was and he came to Se>yme and wanted to was a sled. And we started in to in- vestigate, but were met at the door by mother who looked at us grand- over the tops of A TRUE FRIEND. Pete—" Does yer smell Christmas turkey cookin’ Johnny? her spectacles and said “ Little boys must keep I got a out of sister's Mss Me soom until after mas.” hen we knew it was a nt no use Ch round here for I k 1 feller ter Beau Brumme JUDGE CHRISTMAS IN THE SEVENTIES By CHAKLES BATTELL LOOMIS 1 Monk:— nd not for brother. Of course, cl * on it pret sled and I hoped it was for me would let brother take “ponnic and often—that is pretty often, but he was really too young to have a sled all by himself. He was only five and I was eight and went to school, a school where there was a boy most as tall as father and very nearly a man. Why, he was thirteen the way from Staten Island to the school all by himself. We lived in Brooklyn then and it was a long way from Staten Island and a long way from New York. New York wasn’t re: us children cither at Christmas or any other time fascinating of much use except when we went to the country. Then it was place because we went yup town as fa Street to the railroad station and there we got into a t was pulled by horses all the way through a long tunnel up to 42nd Street and there they had locomotives that went by steam. And they hitched one on to our train and we went up to the country But for the rest of the year New York was of no use to a Brook- We weren't quite sure that they had any very big stores lyn Loy V UNDER THE MISTLETOE. Shall I. or shall I not? If I don't kiss her she'll think I'm a chump and if Ido I'l lose my head! comicbooks.com