Judge, 1914-02-21 · page 8 of 24
Judge — February 21, 1914 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the hypocrisy of domestic advice about mealtime cheerfulness. The text presents Mrs. Tutley recounting a speaker's advocacy for cheerful, pleasant dinner conversation as an aid to digestion—while the illustration shows her simultaneously scolding her children and servants in increasingly harsh terms about noise, breakage, cooking failures, and behavior. The humor lies in the stark contradiction: she praises the speaker's wisdom about maintaining happiness at table while actively creating an anxious, critical atmosphere. Her constant interruptions ("Willie, stop drumming...," "Lucy, how many times...") undermine her own stated endorsement of the philosophy. The lower illustration, captioned "The Spirit of '76," appears to be a separate satirical piece invoking American patriotic imagery, though its specific target remains unclear from the visible content. The satire critiques both self-deluding domesticity and the gap between ideal parenting advice and actual household practice.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“TO BE CONTINUED IN OUR NEXT” «eT HE SPEAKER at our Moth- ° : ° cal authorities had compiled sta- T ers’ Club said something to- A n Aid to Digestion tistics to prove that— Look at day that I feel sure has a great deal of truth in it, Charles,” said Mrs. Tutley to her husband, as he was whetting the carving knife on the steel at the dinner table and his wife was fastening a bib around the neck of the baby of the family. “He said,’’ continued Mrs. Tutley, “that nothing aided digestion so much as cheerfulness at the table, and he said that it was nothing less than a duty for par- ents to be cheerful at the table. He said that all subjects involving much serious thought or likely to create anxiety should be avoided, and that only things that made a pleasant impression should be discussed. He said that they made it a rule in his family to save all their little jokes and pleasantries for the table, and that all surly looks and cross words were forbid- den. Ido think, Charles, that there was @ great deal in it, and so I mean that hereafter— Willie, stop drumming on the table with your fork, and stop that striking your glass with your knife! You broke a glass the other day doing that very thing, and if you break another, mother will punish you severely! As I was saying, Charles, this speaker showed us clearly that cheerful conversation dur- ing meals was a positive aid to— Lucy, how many times have I told you not to make a noise when you were drinking water? Nothing is more offensive than that gurgling sound you so often make when drinking, and I have spoken repeat- edly to you about it! Now, if I have to speak to you again about it, you will be sorry! “He said, Charles, that the best med- ical authorities have demonstrated the fact that low spirits or conversation cal- culated to drive happy thoughts from the mind, and thereby lessen cheerfulness at the grease floating half an inch the table, had a positive influence onthe thick on top of the gravy! If I have salivary glands as well as on the brain, shown that girl once, I have shown her and that— The roast is overdone again? Well, I don’t know what under the sun, moon and stars I can do to make that girl cook a roast without drying it all up! About the only way Icanget her to do a thing as it should be done is to stand right over her every minute. Imight as well do it my- self. She posi- tively gets less efficient every day. She either burnseverything up or serves it half cooked. I get so out of all patience that— This speaker was so intere: ing, and every- thing he saidwas so practical! He showed us how good-humor, cheerfulness and merrimentat the table had a ten- dency to even prolonglife. He THE SPIRIT OF '76 said that medi- “I christen thee George Washington Brown,"* comicbooks.com