Judge, 1911-12-30 · page 12 of 25
Judge — December 30, 1911 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the archetypal demanding elderly relative. The main story concerns Aunt Ann, a wealthy widow visiting her nephew James, who must endure her relentless complaints during a train journey home. She faults him for nearly everything: her railroad seat location, window shade positioning, section placement, ticket type, and trunk handling. She constantly threatens to have preferred relatives (nephew Henry Smart) handle her affairs instead. The satire targets two things: the tyranny of wealthy relations who control family finances through their estates, and the passive, anxious nephew who must absorb endless criticism despite his genuine efforts. The humor lies in Aunt Ann's absurd perfectionism and her weaponized comparisons to other family members—a period-specific anxiety about inheritance and family obligation. The smaller cartoons address unrelated topics (theater gratitude, New Year's customs, and engagements).
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
TA WIAWOY? HENEDLE 5 GRATITUDE. : First actor—" Ah, my boy, I owe a great deal to that old lady."* Second actor—" Your mother ?"" First actor—‘' Heavens, No! Adjusting My landlady."* Aunt Ann. By J. L. HARBOUR. see to getting the section in the parlor section is not right up against the men’s 66] DON’T like a seat at either end of the car, right over the wheels. One rides much more comfortably in the middle of the car, and I don’t like the last car of the train. It adds to the danger if there is a rear-end collision,”’ said Aunt Ann to Jenkins, her nephew, when he was getting her ‘‘settled’’ in the car for her homeward journey after she had spent six weeks of exacting de- mand in his home, from which she would long since have been asked to depart had she not been a childless widow with cash and stocks and bonds aggregating seven figures. “The next time I start for home from your house, James, I think I'd better “ALL OUT!" Miss Quiggs—' Did you see the old year out 2" Mr. Jigys--* Yes; and it saw me out, too?"” car myself,” continued Aunt Ann. “Draw down the shade several inches, please. There is always more of a glare of light in the middle of the car than at the end, and— Won't the shade come down? I don’t want tosit bya reason why you have not been more suc- cessful in life. You are always a little late in doing everything. You sure you got just the right kind of a ticket? You know that I want one with stop-over privileges at Buffalo. You have made such an unfortunate blunder about my section that I can’t feel comfortable about the ticket. Oh, here’s the con- ductor! I'll ask him, to make sure. Here, here, Mr. Conductor! Will you please look at my ticket before the train starts and see if it is all right? I want to stop over in Buffalo. My nephew here bought it for me and he has blun- dered so in getting my section that I was afraid he might not have got the right kind of a ticket. It’s all right, is it? I’m surprised that it is! Thank you. Iam sorry, James, that you put me to so much trouble about my ticket. You sure you had my trunks checked just right? You know that— Phew! Tobacco! Mercy on us, James! if this smoking compartment! And you know how I detest tobacco! I wish that I had allowed nephew Henry Smart to get my section and my tickets. He never would have made such a blunder as this. window with a shade that can- not be pulled down or pushed up. I am always wanting to change the position of the shade. Call the porter and see if he can’t fix the shade. Don’t jerk at it that way! You will only make it worse. You will —Don't put that satchel in the rack, where I can’t reach it! Iwant it left on the seat by me. Be careful how you handle it! There are things in it easily broken. I wish that you had thought to get my sec- tion on the other side of the car. You see that that is the sady side, and I never like to sit on the sunny side, and— Get hold of the porter, if you can, and tell him that I shall ta couple of pillows just as soon as the trainstarts. I wonder if the sections in the middle of the car are all taken. See if you can’t get hold of the con- ductor and find out. I must say, James, that if you had had a little forethought you would not have secured the most undesirable section in the car for me, when you know— This was the only section left? Then why didn’t you apply sooner? I fear, James, that that is one she a «Se CXSE > a @ a REFLECTION “Since Nellie's eagagement how bright and happy looks."* “Yes; a match does light up a girl's face so."" Can't you look around a little and see if some man hasn’t a section in the middle of the car that he would be willing to exchange for this? Men don’t mind the smell of tobacco, and—I simply can’t ride here all day reeking in tobacco filth! Put more of my things in the rack! I don’t want them lying all around me. See if you can’t raise the window a lit- tle before the car starts and let in a little fresh air, and then look up the comicbooks.com