Judge, 1912-01-06 · page 5 of 24
Judge — January 6, 1912 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical piece by Carolyn Wells mocks the "Self-Help" movement popular in early 20th-century America. The top cartoon shows a wealthy man dining while servants attend him, illustrating the irony: the "poor rich" complain about poverty despite never experiencing genuine hardship or "poor rations." The article satirizes self-help philosophy by suggesting absurd applications—helping yourself to restaurant flowers, borrowing magazines without returning them, stealing a friend's supplies. The humor lies in the contradiction: the movement preaches self-reliance and moral improvement, yet Wells demonstrates how the privileged class interprets "helping yourself" literally as theft or entitlement. The secondary cartoon jokes about uninvited guests, maintaining the theme of selfish self-interest masquerading as virtue.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“* So your rich uncle kicked off and left you a fortune, THE WORRY OF THE POOR RICH How does it feel to be rich ?"" * Well, say, if you 've never had poor relations you don’t know what a nuisance they are."” The Help Yourself Club. OME, men, one and all, and join our Help Yourself Club! You will never regret it! Ally yourself to our band and gain what you could never otherwise attain! To help yourself is the first law of human nature, and even a kindly Providence is said to help those who help themselves. Begin at once. In the office you may, after slight practice, become expert in helping yourself to writing paper, stamps, the morning newspaper, and many desirable and expensive commodi- ties, even to the boss gars. Next you may practice the habit of helping yourself to meals. While we do not recommend the free-lunch system in its entirety, yet you may help your- self to pleasant and nutritious meals by dropping in at the house of a friend shortly before mealtimes, when hospi- tality will necessitate an invitation to remain, If of a literary bent, you can help yourself to books or magazines by the simple process of borrowing them from friends and neglecting to return them, Such trifles as helping yourself to can- By CAROLYN WEL dies or other edibles spread out on shop counters need not be taught, as they are inherent in human nature. Some nerve, however, is required to help yourself to the flowers that decorate a restaurant table; but if you do this in a first-class restaurant, no objection is likely to be made, and you may utilize the flowers to good advantage. If spending a week-end in a country house, help yourself liberally to your host’s collars, ties, handkerchiefs, etc. He cannot remonstrate with you, and you can thus acquire a pleasing collec- tion of haberdashery. Although the Help Yourself Club is now for the first time definitely organ- ized, yet the movement is not entirely a new one. It has been practiced more or less by all classes, from the policeman who helps himself to an apple from the old woman’s apple stand to our greatest and bravest politicians. So join our ranks at once and practice what we preach. Our motto is, ‘Take One!’’ Let us all adopt it acd live up to its teachings! To each member enrolled we will send a badge in the shape of a tiny, out- stretched hand of gold. This is known as the Helping Hand and marks its wearer as an honorable member of the Help Yourself Club. The latest style of crow may be heard at the poultry show. J TWO IS COMPANY, THREE IS A CROWD. Said a she to a he, with a pout, “Three 's too many by one, without doubt !"* As the lamp was the third, They hoped that it heard, And it did, for it straightway went out! comicbooks.com