Judge, 1913-12-27 · page 5 of 25
Judge — December 27, 1913 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The top illustration depicts women in a dressing room discussing a man named Jack Brazen, with one character (Myrtle) noting he's "the limit"—slang for someone extreme or objectionable. The main story, "Josiah's Defeat" by James Oliver Curwood, is a humorous anecdote about a man named Josiah who believed he possessed "power of mind over matter." He attempted to use mental concentration to control various situations—making a cow behave, curing rheumatism, and controlling horses—with mixed results. The satire mocks pseudoscientific claims about "mind power" and mental willpower as cure-alls, showing Josiah's repeated failures despite his unshakeable confidence in the method.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ee we eee ee EE A DRESSING-ROOM CONFIDENCE Myrtle—How can you stand that Jack Brazen, Mary? I think he's the limit. Mary—Well, he's got a sixty horse-power car, Myrtle, an’ you can’t expect everything. «JT ALL come of this here power 0” mind over matter, your honor. Ever since the day that new-fangled preacher hit Bugginsville, Jo- siah wasn’t the same —an’ I ‘low that I wasn’t—but I ain't goin’ to have no ay- leenists probin’ into my skull an’ sayin’ I'm crazy, because I ain’t, an’ neither was Josiah. “I ’low I had only a mild case of this mind-over-matter stuff until Josiah went clean dippy over it, an’ then it seemed to git me allaconce. Josiah called it ‘con- secratin’ your mind,’ an’ he was forever an’ everlastin’ consecratin’ it, your honor. First, it was on a cow that bruk her le; ‘Maria,’ sez he to me, ‘Maria, I’m goi to cure that cow’s leg by mentul conse- crasshun. I’m goin’ to prove to you in- dissulutely,’ he sez, ‘the proof of power o’ mind over matter.’ The cow got well, Per cman arn 3] t Josiah’s Defeat | tr Ry JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD fu h oestansasesnacacacanasil an’ there was no holdin’ Josiah down after that. “Pretty soon I had the rheumatiz, caused by lack of ile between the j’ints, an’ Josiah sez to me, sez he, ‘Maria, I’m goin’ to consecrate my mind on you all day, an’ by night your rheumatiz’!l be better.’ An’ sure’s you’ve got whiskers, judge, it was! That settled it for me, an’ I began consecratin’ along with Jo- siah, an’ I ‘low I soon got pretty nigh as powerful as Josiah at mentul conse- crasshun. “Now, the good Lord knows Josiah warn’t no angel to git along with, though I do hope he’s among ’em now an’ learnin’ a little onselfishness, He never would agree with me, an’ when we both got to consecratin’, it was just his natur’ to con- secrate all o’ his power o’ mind agin my power o’ mind. It was then that things began to happen, your honor. The real trouble began when Josiah wanted the hens to lay in Feb’uary, an’ I wanted ’em to lay in March. He began consecratin’ his mind, an’ would consecrate for hours at a time, an’ I began consecratin’, too. Josiah, he consecrated for the hens to lay in Feb’uary, an’ I consecrated for ’em to lay in March, an’ because he was 80 pig- headed, your honor, an’ the power o’ our minds bein’ ekal, the hens didn’t lay at all! An’ because they had had so much consecratin’ of two different kinds put on ‘em, most of ’em took the pip an’ died. There was a lot of consecratin’ went on after that, your honor, an’ everything went bad, because Josiah wouldn’t agree with me. But the chief trouble didn’t come until I began consecratin’ my mind for a new dress an’ coat for New Year's, an’ Josiah began consecratin’ his’n for a new buggy for spring. It was then, one night, that Josiah sez to me, sez he, ‘Maria, there’s just one way I can make the power o’ my mind a blessin’ to us all, an’ that’s by destroyin’ the power o’ your mind,’ he sez. “**Oh, it is, is it?’ 1 sez, smilin’ at him comicbooks.com