Judge, 1912-02-10 · page 14 of 24
Judge — February 10, 1912 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a romantic poem accompanying a photograph of a young woman reading. The piece satirizes modern courtship and the "flighty" nature attributed to young women of the era (likely 1910s-1920s based on style). The satire operates on multiple levels: the poem's narrator romanticizes his beloved Velma's distracted mind while she reads, claiming her thoughts "fly here and there" to dances and romantic settings. The joke is the contradiction—he celebrates her daydreaming as charming, yet the final lines reveal his true expectation: that marriage will end her independence and reading altogether ("she'll give up her reading soon, / For she's to be my wife"). The cartoon mocks both the sentimental male suitor and period attitudes about women's education and autonomy, suggesting that courtship rhetoric about women's intellectual and romantic freedom was merely temporary—marriage meant surrendering such pursuits.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1" sussssessesnasansanseeters® WHEN VELMA READS. When Velma reads the printed page Her thoughts are flying here and there ; For hers, forsooth’s, the flighty age— Her mind is everywhere, When Velma reads of course she thinks, Though little of her open book— She dreams of dances, skating-rinks, Of drive and quiet nook. When Velma reads the thought-waves rise In telepathic symphony. And each wave like a love-bird flies, Through barren space to me. When Velma reads! Oh, fairest boon! Her thoughts with happiness are rife, But she'll give up her reading soon, For she’s to be my wife. —C. G. G. comicbooks.com