Judge, 1911-07-08 · page 15 of 24
Judge — July 8, 1911 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This story satirizes the women's suffrage movement through absurdist humor. Uncle Ashdod recounts how an English suffragette named Sarah June Spankburst boarded his ship and relentlessly promoted "Votes for Women" until the crew grew tired of her advocacy. The satire's point: the story ridicules suffragists as annoying agitators whose cause is so trivial it disrupts social order. When the captain finally grants women voting rights aboard ship to silence her, he must force a male crew member to dress in women's clothes ("pink kimono," "lady's pink kimono") to constitute a female voter—mocking both the suffragettes and the absurdity of expanding voting rights. The crude illustration and humor reflect anti-suffrage sentiment common in early 20th-century American publications. By portraying a suffragette as perpetually irritating and her demands as laughable, Judge attempted to delegitimize the movement through ridicule rather than serious argument.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SS i SONY af THE FIRST HAREM SKIRT IN MIDGETVILLE, UNCLE O MIKE SULLIVAN he wore the pink kimono,’’ said Uncle “What's that?’’ said Sim Perkins suspiciously, ‘*Who wore what?”” “Mike Sullivan,”’ said Uncle Ashdod. “He wore the pink kimono, and Leif Jorgensen he wore the blue Mother Hub- bard, and his name was Jane “You ain’t crazy, are you?’’ asked Sim Perkins. “No more than usual,’’ said Uncle Ashdod placidly; ‘and, as I was about to say, Hans Hochheimer wore the hob- ble ‘What was it? Comic oprer?’’ asked Sim Perkins disdainfully. “It was the ship Nancy Ann, and I was the skipper, like I told you,’’ said Uncle Ashdod; ‘‘and the minute she came aboard she began shoutin’, ‘Votes rt and his name was Susan’’—— for Women “Who did?"’ asked Sim Perkins. “This female English suffragette did,’’ said Uncle Ashdod. ‘‘Her name was Sarah June Spankburst, and she used to sit on the yard arm and talk ASHDOD AND VOTES FOR WOMEN. By ELLIS PARKER BUTLER, Author of “Pigs by Pies.” woman suffrage to the crew until I got sick and tired of it. ‘What in tunket has Votes for Women got to do with this ship?’ I asks her. ‘Me and the crew,’ I says, ‘don’t get a vote once every five hundred years,’ I says, ‘be- cause it ain’t convenient, when we are off the coast of Patagonia, to ‘A VERY WASTEFUL GIRL. run back home and vote for coroner.’ That’s what I says, and she says, ‘Votes for Women!’ So she got ’em."” “Got what?"’ asked Sim Perkins, “She got Votes for Women,’’ said Uncle Ashdod. ‘I got up on a bar’l, and I says, ‘Crew, I’m king of this ship, and after this it ain't goin’ to be run that way. She's goin’ to be a republic, with Votes for Women, for it’s the only way we can make Sarah June Spank- burst shut up.’ And seein’ as I hada revolver in one hand and a marlin spike in t’other, everybody agreed. But the mate, he was a sea lawyer, and he says, ‘What's the use? There's only one of her, and there’s twenty of us, and her vote won’t cut no figger at all.’ So I p’inted my finger at him. ‘You ain’t no gentleman, mate,’ I says. ‘No,’ says he, ‘nor I ain’t ever pretended to be.’ ‘All right, mate,’ I says; ‘if you ain’t no gentleman, you'll have to be a lady. We're goin’ to give this female suffrage a fair show. You'll rig up in the lady's pink kimono, and your name’ll'be Little Rosie.’ ‘Tunket!’ he says; but it didn’t do no good. And Leif Jorgensen he comicbooks.com