Judge, 1911-10-21 · page 8 of 24
Judge — October 21, 1911 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humorous short story by Ellis Parker Butler illustrated with sketches. Mr. Gimp, an ordinary man, attends a fashionable horse show wearing a shabby silk hat he rarely uses—it's wrinkled from rain damage and doesn't fit properly. The satire targets middle-class social anxiety: Gimp obsessively monitors what others are wearing, frantically removing and replacing his hat based on what he observes wealthier attendees doing. Meanwhile, his wife focuses entirely on criticizing other women's gowns and jewelry rather than enjoying the event itself. The embedded anecdote about an old man discussing automobiles suggests how fashions and social conventions constantly change, making it futile to worry about appearing proper. The joke satirizes *Hamlet's* "To be or not to be" by making it about whether to wear one's hat—trivializing existential questions into petty social concerns. The humor derives from depicting ordinary people's status-conscious insecurity at upper-class venues.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“TO BE, OR NOT TO BE?" GIMP ATTENDS THE HORSE SHOW. By ELLIS PARKER BUTLER. Author «Pres bs Pies.” S IT was an afternoon session of Mr. Gimp, having observed that the well-dressed man in 5 the horse show, Mr. Gimp wore __ the box was the only man not wearing his hat, hastily 1e- his frock coat and silk hat and placed his own hat. He did not wear his silk hat often, and a new lavender tie he had pur- it needed ironing. The last time he had worn it had been in chased for the occasion. As he a rain shower, and each drop of rain had left its mark. Be- took his seat—second tier back fore leaving home Mr. Gimp had brushed the hat vigorously of the boxes—he glanced hastily with the hairbrush, but the rough spots would not become around, and seeing several men smooth. The hat did not fit his head very well, anyway, es- wearing their hats, he blushed and put his hat on again. The pecially since he had had his hair cut, and as the spectators next moment he saw a well-dressed man enter one of the walked past in the promenade before the boxes below him boxes and remove his hat, and Mr. Gimp hastily removed his and looked up, Mr. Gimp had an awful feeling that every bit of nap on his hat was standing on end, and that the hat itself was so far down on his head that it must look like an extin- guisher. He wished, with all his heart, he had not come, and that, now that he had come, he could put his hat between his feet. own. He was strain- ing his neck to see whether many other men had removed their hats when Mrs. Gimp spoke. “My dear,’’ she exclaimed — enthusi- astically, ‘‘will you just look at that gown entering that box! ‘The third box to the right. What a dream! And, oh! that “And, oh, just hat! There—on the : ‘ see that wrap! And woman in lavender!"” 2 Ye g those jewels!’’ ex- “T don't see it, a claimed Mrs. Gimp. ma," said Sammy “AS 'TWAS TOLD TO ME." See Mr. Gimp wiped Gimp. ‘Where is ‘'I''ll be dinged if I don’t recollect my grandfather ay = his face, which was it? What's 1 tellin’ how he uster haul home them old-fangled = icine freel it? at's laven- sutomobiles that ‘ud get busted. I do declare, perspiring freely, der?” how times have changed !"” and felt cautiously to comicbooks.com