Judge, 1911-05-13 · page 9 of 24
Judge — May 13, 1911 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes urban newcomers' naive attempts at gardening. The main narrative follows city dwellers who purchase seeds from exaggerated catalog claims—particularly an impossibly giant tomato advertised at "actual size." The six-panel comic strip "The City Innocents" depicts Mr. and Mrs. Citibred and Billy discovering their seed purchases are fraudulent: the promised vegetables never materialize. They're literally swindled by deceptive seed catalog marketing. The accompanying story amplifies this joke: a narrator becomes obsessed with a catalog's colossal tomato illustration, only realizing it cannot exist at that size. The satire targets both seed companies' misleading advertising and urban residents' gullibility about gardening—they're completely out of their element, believing promotional hyperbole literally. The humor relies on early 20th-century tension between city and country life, mocking city dwellers as "innocents" easily deceived by rural enterprise. The ironic conclusion—using the tomato picture's heat to warm their house—underscores their absurdity.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ing, ‘‘here is a seed man selling clam seeds, But I never saw clams this size!"’ “Those are not clams,’’ said Mary. “Those are illustrations of the New Giant Wormproof Lima Bean. But look at this balloon ascension! That's a funny thing to have in a seed cata- logue !"" “*Balloons!’’ said. ‘*Can’t you read? That is a spray of the new Pale Gold Gooseberries. But no garden for me this year!"’ 1. Mr. Citibred—'* Well, we sure got stung on this garden thing. There ain't a beet or a carrot or a parsnip on one of them bushes !"’ ‘Mrs. Citibred--"" And after you worked so hard, Billy, too."" 2. Billy—'* There 's another lemon we get handed by these yaps. ‘Your own vegetables fresh from the garden." Huh ! —— 7 ee F aac ee - : naatmeane Wy 3. —— We'll rip ‘em up by the roots and chuck ‘em over the fence Come on, Jule." I turned a page of the catalogue. There he was! This year he required an inserted sheet that folded like a map, but it was my old friend, the gigantic, glowing, shining, scarlet Tomato! I hardly knew him, he had grown so since ne had his portrait done for the seed catalogue of last year. He was now about the size of a Barnum & Bailey circus main tent, and his color had im- proved, too. He was no longer a pale thing, the color of a railway danger sig- nal; he was red now, a real red. He was so red that just to look at him burned your face. Oh, he was a glorious Tomato, even for a seed catalogue! “TI think I will have just a small garden,’ I told Mary. I could not take my eyes off the Tomato. Neither could Mary. “Just a small garden! I'll rent the vacant block back of the house and raise just one tomato —one tomato like this.’’ “Do you think there would be room there for a tomato as big as this?” asked Mary doubtfully. That made me hesitate, but I looked at the printing under the tomato picture. “Perhaps it is not really this large,"’ I said hopefully. ‘‘Per- haps this is an enlargement—he- roie size, you know.”” But the text said, ‘‘Actual size.” “*Mary,”’ I said firmly, but sad- ly, “we cannot have a garden this year. There is not room in this suburb to grow a tomato like this one.”” So we have no garden planned for this year. But the seed-cata- logue tomato illustration was not Concerning Time. sd Relea is money,’’ said the judge, hurrying through his docket. “If that's so; your Honor,”’ put in the chauffeur who had got his just deserts for careless driving, ‘‘can’t you change that ten days in jail to ten dollars and let me go?” SOME are born lazy, some acquire lazi- ness, but neither are apt to have laziness thrust from them. IN THE COUNTRY. Rae ee ae BB) YAS ’ — 45 F, x AG made in vain. We have extin- guished our furnace fire and the hot red of the picture of the Mammoth Giant Tomato keeps the house comfortably heated on the coldest days. To Win a Maid. ‘OU NEED a heart Full of love— And prove it. You need a head Full of sense— And show it. You need a purse Full of coin— And blow it. HUBBY at home is worth two that roam. 5. Billy—"* Well, who 'd ever a thought they was down in ! comicbooks.com