Judge, 1911-09-09 · page 8 of 24
Judge — September 9, 1911 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This humorous story by Ellis Parker Butler satirizes male ego and domestic incompetence. Mr. Gimp, a man of average means, is determined to repair a leaky bathroom faucet himself to prove his intelligence superior to hiring a professional plumber. The joke centers on his smugness—he's thrilled his wife is away so she won't ask "foolish questions" while he works. The cartoon illustrations show his confident posturing contrasted with the actual messiness of the job (the lower sketch depicts chaos). The title "Two Souls with But a Single Thought" ironically suggests marital harmony while depicting their opposing views: his pride versus her practicality about calling a plumber. The piece pokes fun at early 20th-century masculine pride and the common male fantasy of handiwork competence—a recognizable archetype even today.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“‘TWO SOULS WITH BUT A SINGLE THOUGHT." MR GIMP MENDS THE FAUCET. R. GIMP came home from the city the other day and burst into his house with an air that meant business. “‘Mary!’’ he shouted as soon as he was inside the door, but his wife did not answer. Instead, the Polish maid stuck her head out of the kitchen. “Mis’ Gimp, she go town. No come back yet,"’ she said, and shut the kitchen door again. Mr. Gimp smiled with satisfaction and pulled off his coat. He laid the parcel he was carrying on the stairs and rolled uphissleeves. Then he took off his vest, picked up his parcel and climbed the stairs. He walked right into the bath- room and laid the parcel on the floor and opened it. It con- tained a large mon- key wrench, a screw- driver, half a dozen assorted rubber washers and a pipe wrench. “Thank goodness, my wife’snothome!”’ said Mr. Gimp. “If there is anything up- By ELLIS PARKER BUTLER, Author of “* Pigs Is Pigs.” sets a man it is the foolish questions a woman asks when he is trying to do a job. Plumber! She’d get a plumber to mend a leaky faucet, would she? I'll show her that a man of intelligence can do a job in five minutes that a plumber would take all day to and charge five dollars. Now!’’ Mr. Gimp turned the faucet. Nota drop of water came out. He turned the other—it was dry. They were the bath- tub faucets and the far one—the one nearest the wall had been leaking for a week, while Mr. Gimp promised, day by day, to attend to it. NO HAZARD. * How do you folks get along being so far away from a doctor ?"" Wa-al, ye see, most of us have t’ die a nat'ral death.” “‘Well!’’ said Mr. Gimp as he saw that no water came out of the faucets. “‘That’s more sense than I thought that woman possessed. Turned off the water, did she? Didn’t let it run all day when there was no need of it, hey? Now!"’ Mr. Gimp took the monkey wrench in one hand and the pipe wrench in the other and climbed into the bathtub, Then he sat on the edge while he studied the faucet. He was having a glorious time. “Lemme see!"’ he said. ‘You take off that handle and you unscrew that top dingus. That's what you do."” So he did that. Twice the monkey wrench slipped and he skinned three knuckles, but he got the handle off and he unscrewed the cap and pulled out the rod that held the washer. Then he peered down into the remaining portion of the faucet and looked at the washer and peered into the fau- cet again. “‘Humph!”’ he said. He fitted the washer plunger back in the faucet and took comicbooks.com