Judge, 1913-06-28 · page 8 of 25
Judge — June 28, 1913 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Judge* contains several satirical pieces exploiting wordplay and social commentary. **"The Lover's Oracle"** is a romantic dialogue playing on the mythological Echo—a figure cursed to repeat only others' words. The humor derives from a lover's questions receiving answers that sound like Echo's repetitions but create unintended, often deflating meanings ("Where do I suffer?" / "Allover"). **The narrative pieces** ("Willow Street," "At the wedding") satirize courtship and marriage customs of the era, depicting a girl's misbehavior at her own wedding (hopping and skipping rather than walking solemnly) as comic evidence of youth's irreverence toward formality. **"Grievously Afflicted"** is a list joke playing on personification—pairing emotional states with objects that literally embody them ("A weeping willow," "A bellowing bull"), followed by a contemporary jab that fizzy drinks will be more popular than fireworks that Fourth of July. The page reflects early 20th-century middle-class anxieties about propriety, courtship rituals, and generational behavior changes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
. . * girl. her father’s coat. The papers described the affair as an original wooing and wedding, and for once the papers were right. The Lover's Oracle “Ere I begin, pray, Echo, bid me wel- come."" “Wilt thou reply, let me ask what I will?” “Pray tell me, then, what makes me cry ‘Alack “A lack? Of what? That helps me not, alas!’ “(A lass, indeed! Her name? Come, Echo, answer!”? “Ann, sir!’ “Stay just a moment, Echo. I'd know more!"" ‘‘No mo! “‘What—Nan? Absurd! You're out of practice “One parting word, I'll be beholden ever!"” “Never sure!"? “Tis sure."" “Oh, Echo, please don’t leave me woebegone!"” ‘*Begone!”” “Where do I suffer, then, if I'm a lover?” “Allover.” “Why hide so, Echo? What's there to imbosk **What will relieve this, my so sad complaint?’ Willow Street and saw a splendid-looking man talking with a girl of great beauty. with bare, brown legs, wearing a large black bow and a short pirik dress. ‘Why, Dwight Ellis, how'd you? These are my daughters. have never met them.’"" “Oh, pop, that’s the man who stole your coat!’" “The younger one appears to have met me, anyway!’? said Mr, Ellis, laughing, his heart lighter than it had been in weeks. “*She told me she'd found the man who stole my coat, but said he was ‘awful nice.’ was you, you old thoroughbred 7 At the wedding, not longafter, Doris was the flower It is embarrassing to record that, though rehearsed for hours, she did not behave particularly well on her march to the altar, preferring to hop, skip and jump rather than walk, and to throw the flowers at her friends who were ribboned off rather than strew them in the straight and narrow path that led to the man who stole HOME, SWEET HOME—WHAT HAPPENED AT A “ DOUBLE-HEADER” ON TBE PoURTH Near them was a child, I believe you So I never dreamed it . . . ew, CUNNING—WHAT? Welcome. Sheba—The ocean is very treacherous, isn’t it? Hero—Yes, indeed. And this time of year is er—especially full of er—craft. “Twill” “Don’t most men flee the source of such confu- sion?’’ “*What would you do if I should disbelieve you?’ ‘Few shun."” ‘Leave you. “Bo, scat Gee. B, Mernwved. Grievously Afflicted A crying shame. A weeping willow. A howling swell. A sad dog. A sorry jade. A mourning cloak. A sighing breeze. A groaning branch. A moaning tide. A sobbing wind. A bellowing bull. A woeful mistake, An unhappy chance. A dismal failure. A miserble fiasco. A wretched meal. A gloomy prospect. A troubled pool. A harrowed field. A tortured meaning. at?” “Complaint.” GirsTen le CeO 7 The fizzing soda fountain will be more in evidence than the whizzing rocket. comicbooks.com