Judge, 1913-03-22 · page 11 of 26
Judge — March 22, 1913 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main cartoon satirizes new mothers' tendency to describe utterly ordinary infant behavior as uniquely exceptional. Mrs. Youngmother exhaustively details her baby's "original" traits—holding out his hands for a bottle, waving goodbye, smiling in sleep, looking at his foot, even laughing while asleep—each presented as remarkable when these are standard developmental milestones. May, the former maid of honor, listens politely while mentally watching the clock, wanting the tedious visit to end. Her bored reaction contrasts with the mother's breathless enthusiasm, emphasizing how thoroughly unremarkable these behaviors actually are. The secondary cartoon "Construed Either Way" shows a newly married middle-aged man whose nightmare about losing his wife prompts her sarcastic reply: "No such luck, my dear"—a sharp joke about their marriage being undesirable. Both satirize domestic relationships through understatement and ironic contradiction.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
«s][SN’'T he a darling, May?"’ said Mrs. Youngmother to ‘*May,’’ who had been her maid of honor at the wedding and who was seeing the baby for the first time. “He is just adear!’’ said May, with her eye on the clock, while she was men- tally calculating how she could ‘in decency” bring the call to an end. “Tt isn’t that he is such an extraordinarily pretty baby, May. It's more than that, forhe is certainly the Such most original child you ever saw! cunning little original ways as he has for one of his age! I wish that it was time for him to have his dinner and you could see the way he holds out his little hands the moment he sees the bottle and opens his mouth when the bottle is three feet from him! You never saw anything so cute! Then, when I give him a little milk to drink in a cup, he bubbles in it in the funniest way! Mamma says that she never knew of any other baby doing it quite like he does. Then, when you go, you will see what a cunning way he has of waving good-by. Sometimes I have to take him by the elbow and help him a little, but even then it is the most original little way he has! And if you could only see him smile in his sleep! Sometimes, when he is sound asleep, his little lips entirely part over his gums in CONSTRUED EITHER WAY Middle-aged bridegroom—1 dreamed last night I had lost you, darling! Bride—No such luck, my dear. Origioa the dearest little smile! I think that it is a sign that he is going to havea happy disposition. Then he has the most orig- inal little way of holding one foot in the air and staring at it when he is lying down, and the other day he actually got his big toe into his mouth—he did! I called the cook up from the kitchen so that she could see it—the ‘funniest little trick you ever saw! I asked the doctor when he was here the other day if- he thought it was a sign that he is going to be a real athlete, and he thought it might be, and it worries me a little, for I don’t want him to be one of these professional athletes. I look higher than that for him. And, honestly, May, sometimes I think he knows time by the clock ! Every time it strikes, he looks toward it! I have watched him again and again, and the moment the clock strikes, he turns his eyes right toward it. Do you suppose that he really knows what it is? I sometimes think that he does, because he is so orig’ nal in so many other ways. And, May, as sure as I live and breathe, I heard him laugh in his sleep the other night! I woke my husband and wanted him to get up and light the gas and see if baby was awake, but he didn’t want to. No one can ever convince me that betes i . dress and he didn’t laugh in his sleep. ““Sy,;5 a of the most original babies that I have ever heard of, and I am very glad of it, for I want him to grow up with some individuality—and I am sure he has it, all right! Don’t you want to hold him for just a minute and see how heavy he is for one of his age? Oh, May, it isa great responsibility to be the mother of such an unusual child as he is!’" Max Mernyman. HIGH GRadt cut Flower NO RIVALRY FEARED Lover—Please send a large bunch of roses to this ad- charge it to me. Florist—Yes, sit; and your name? Truly, May, I think that he is one Lover—Oh, never mind the name. She ‘Il know. comicbooks.com