Judge, 1912-06-08 · page 10 of 24
Judge — June 8, 1912 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical story depicts a small-town betting game at a rural drug store where customers guess a cat's weight. George Potts, apparently known for caution, faces pressure to wager but employs clever logic: he splits the difference between other guesses (nine and twelve pounds), wagering "ten and a half pounds"—counting the cat's body at ten pounds plus half a pound for its fur. The joke satirizes small-town gambling culture and male vanity. Potts's meticulous reasoning—avoiding both extremes to hedge his bets—accidentally wins by landing precisely on the actual weight. His conservative, overthinking approach triumphs over confident guessing, mocking both the foolishness of gambling and the irony that excessive caution sometimes succeeds. The secondary cartoon mocks urban poverty, while a poem comments on financial ruin.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
OUR DRUG STORES. Stranger— (after looking about) —"' Can yon tell me where I can buy some quinine pills?” nervously. ‘Come along, George! Take achance feronce in your life!"’ he urged. The group about the stove settled back complacently at this. But it did not seem to be the Potts nature to take chances. “I'm inclined to think Uncle Silas used purty good jedgment in his guess,’’ mused Potts. ‘‘A likely cat ought to weigh somewhere around ten pounds.”? The grocer and the group about the stove held their breath. “But this cat, here,’’ said Potts slowly, ‘thas an uncommon lot of fur. Now, o’ course, fur don’t weigh much, butit weighs somethin’. Still, I don’t think it would weigh e-nuff to make a full pound, which would be eleven pound all told. Besides, I couldn’t guess that, because Dad Smith said eleven pound, and Peter Swink said twelve, as I remem- ber.’" “That's right,"’ came a voice from the stove group. “I couldn’t say less than ten pound, because William Swink here guessed nine pound, and my jedgment wouldn't let me go less’n that figger under any circumstances.’"” The group about the stove seemed lost in one wide-spreading smile. But they had not counted sufticiently on the re- sources of the Potts sporting blood. Driven to close quarters, it occurred to George Potts that there was a safe mid- dle ground. OMINOUS. “Say, boss, won't ye help ust’ git a bite t' eat? T'd do most anything t' git th’ price of a meal.” “I'll just say ten pound fer th’ cat, gentlemen, and half a pound fer the fur, makin’ altogether ten and a half pound,”” he finally announced. At least he had not been guilty of making a hazardous guess at his time of life; he could not be furthest from the actual weight, for . he was neither highest nor lowest! A groan went up from about the stove. With tears and lamentations Peter and William Swink were divid- ing twenty-five cents in change be- tween them, which they handed the grocer for cigars all around. Upon the scales, where the grocer had placed her, the cat lay peace- fully sleeping. George Potts, not- ing that the weight arm was swing- ing easily, leaned forward to see what the weight could be. To his surprise he discovered that the weight of the cat was just ten and one-half pounds, A Paradox. I think it’s the funniest joke, That when you've no money you're broke; And when you've no brains—it’s a fact— You’re not broke at all—only cracked! comicbooks.com — = a