Judge, 1914-06-27 · page 7 of 25
Judge — June 27, 1914 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **Fourth of July-themed humor page** from Judge magazine, featuring anthropomorphized fireworks and explosives as characters in witty dialogues. The satirical conceit presents bombs, rockets, torpedoes, and firecrackers as personified speakers debating their respective importance and power. The humor relies on **puns and double meanings**: the Rocket will "rock-et" (play on words), the Balloon notes the Giant Cracker goes off "with a bang" (literal and figurative), and the Bomb warns people not to "sit on me" during its active moment (suggesting danger). The illustration's caption—"Shade of the Watchman—Twelve o'clock, and all is hell!"—plays on the traditional night watchman's call, but here suggests the chaotic noise and mayhem of Fourth of July fireworks celebrations. This appears to be **lighthearted holiday satire** rather than political commentary, using fireworks as a metaphor for unpredictable, volatile personalities and the dangers of Independence Day celebrations.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Rocket and the Bomb rs a shake the earth all right when I 0 off," said the bombastic Bomb “Perhaps you will, y,"’ said the Rock- but wait till I go off, and you'll see." “You?” retorted the Bomb scornfully. ‘*What IL you do?” it hy a WS “I'll rock-et, t ‘ ecb the Rocket. Whereupon the Bomb exploded with ‘ scorn and shook the whole company. said : A Deafening Experiment “Tam one of the most patient creatures in the world,’’ said the Torpedo, ‘‘and when people are kind to me, I am per- fectly quiet and harmless; but if anybody tries to throw me down’? —— “Then what?" interrupted the Bengal Light. “Well, just you throw me down and 4 see,’’ grinned the Torpedo. And the Bengal Light threw him down, Shade of the Watchman—Twelve o'clock, and all is hell! Little Squibs for the Fourth with results so deafening that he has never been able to hear since. Very Like “You remind me of a burglar who broke into our house one night and stole my sister’s front hair off the bureau,”’ said the Balloon to the Giant Cracker. “In what respect?’’ asked the Giant Cracker. “Because you always go off with a bang,"’ said the Balloon. He Was Right, Too “It seems to me,’’ said the Giant Cracker, with a contemptuous glance at the little Pinwheel, ‘‘yes, it really does seem to me that you are very much too small and insignificant a creature to be traveling around with such big fellows as Tam." “Oh, you never can tell, Cracky, old boy!’? laughed the little Pinwheel. “Wait till they set me off—you’ll find there's enough of me to go round, small as lam.” Naturally “Yes,’’ said the Roman Candle. “It was very distressing. There was my friend, the Fountain of Fire, making a very beautiful display, when all of a sudden the rain came down in perfect tor- rents."" “Mercy, how sad!"’ said the little Pin- wheel, ‘‘And was she very angry?"’ “Not angry, exactly,’’ said the Roman Candle. ‘*But I could see from the way she sputtered that she was very much put out.’” Good Advice “*You may criticise me all you please outside of business hours,’’ said the Bomb; ‘‘but when I've started in at work with my fuse lit’? —— Here he paused and looked unutterable things. ‘Well, what then?’’ queried the Tor- pedo. “Well, take my advice and don’t sit on me at that particular moment, that’s all,’’ said the Bomb. comicbooks.com