Judge, 1910-12-03 · page 42 of 52
Judge — December 3, 1910 — page 42: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a 12-panel comic strip romance parody subtitled "A Romance of the Nursery" by H.Y. Mayer. The narrative appears to satirize melodramatic romance stories through nursery characters or fairy-tale figures. The plot involves characters named Arline and Joseph in a dramatic love story: darkness falls, a figure disappears, Arline's heart rests on a soldier's shoulder, Joseph faints and collapses, the soldier rages with jealousy, violence erupts (a knife slash), and the final panel suggests reconciliation—"Will they be united again? Only time can tell. Wood is thicker than sawdust." The title phrase "wood is thicker than sawdust" appears to be a humorous inversion of "blood is thicker than water," suggesting the wood (solid, substantial) of true love outlasts mere sawdust (hollow, insubstantial) of superficial romance. The cartoon mocks overwrought Victorian-era romance narratives through exaggerated, comedic illustrations.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE “WOOD IS THICKER THAN SAWDUST” A Romance of the Nursery By HY. MAYER 1, Darkness fell upon the landsc gure was seen disappearing in the s g. Yes, it was the hatet a flush upon Arline’s face h fairly collapsed, His arms fell to 8. He was beside himself with rage. And, with h fly slashed the Everythin go away from him, i, An ic f. figure emerging {ro: However, he quickly composed himsel Mee oly selleg Lg i apart, pulled herself hey be united agair hicker than sawdust, comicbooks.com