Judge, 1913-12-20 · page 13 of 24
Judge — December 20, 1913 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical article by Homer Croy critiques selfish husbands who disguise their own interests as Christmas gifts for wives. The illustration shows a stern man reading a "Resolution" about Santa Claus to children and adults—suggesting how ideals of generosity are preached but not practiced. Croy's ironic argument: boys are "queer" (odd) because they recognize the hypocrisy. When husbands give wives "serviceable" gifts—egg crates, lap robes, clothes wringers—these ostensibly benefit the wives but actually serve the husbands' convenience (easier farm work, tax avoidance, household labor). The boys notice these wives look exhausted with "red circles under their eyes" and receive no gentlemanly attention, yet wealthy husbands are praised as upstanding. The satire targets masculine selfishness masquerading as generosity and the economic burden wives bear. Boys who refuse handshakes with such men aren't "queer"—they're morally perceptive. The article mocks early 20th-century gender dynamics where wives' labor subsidized household economies under the pretense of gift-giving.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ESOLUTION K That we, the undersigned. Be kt Know the eve of Decenber fh ¥ he de st felatives and friends (Signed) BETTEY X BILLY'S mark A FORMAL lieve fully in the existence of a Santa ts all good boys and girls, laden with kings, hung on or near the mantel for - Ithas been wuanimously voted that a copy of this Resolution be seat to all OBBY fre. Mp r\ Ys REMINDER Why Christmas Makes Some Boys Queer By HOMER CROY Lots of people think that boys are queer. Out our way they said that we showed it particularly about Christmas. I remember they used to think that we boys didn’t show the right kind of respect for our elders when the husbands bought their wives expensive Christmas presents. I can remember how carefully the men would select presents for their wives. Some way or other, it would always happen that the presents the husbands gave their wives were just as serviceable to them as to their wives. I have seen this remark- able coincidence occur year after year. We boys around the old country church could look at the wife’s present and tell pretty well what kind of husband she had. If the distributers, the night of the tree, brought back a big, bulging package and it turned out to be a laprobe, we could tell that the husband had a great deal of driving todo. If it was a patent egg crate, so that the eggs would not get broken, we would know that the wife had been packing her pin money in oats when she started to town Saturday mornings, and we would know that the husband had hit on this happy way of sav- ing the tax money. If the distributers brought back to the wife, on the happiest evening of the year, a clothes wringer, we could tell that the husband was going to be tied up with jury duty most of the winter, and that he was going to make sure that his wife had a comfortable income. Another thing we noticed about this kind of: men was that they were always so rushed by. the press of work that they never had time to help their wives into the buggies Sundays, and that the wives talked lots more to the children than they did to their husbands, and that the wives nearly always had red circles under their eyes, as if they cried a great deal. Sometimes, when these men would hold out their hands and try to get us to come up and shake hands with them, we wouldn’t do it. Sometimes these men would be the wealthiest men in the county and had the finest horses to be found anywhere. Yes, boys are certainly queer! There’s no understanding a boy. e that it is not a loose leaf. When turning over a new leaf s comicbooks.com