Judge, 1915-01-23 · page 11 of 24
Judge — January 23, 1915 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This story-cartoon satirizes male selfishness and the consequences of reckless behavior. Bellamie, a wealthy but stubborn man, ignored his capable chauffeur to drive recklessly himself—a common trope mocking the arrogance of privileged men. His accident lands him in the hospital where a clever nurse tends him. The satire centers on Bellamie's delirious confusion: he mistakes his nurse for his ex-wife Gertrude, whom he'd been calling for during fever. When lucid, he denies this—yet the irony suggests his subconscious recognizes what he consciously rejects: his ex-wife was the competent caregiver he actually needed. The joke satirizes male vanity and the blindness of men who undervalue capable women, especially wives they've discarded. Even hospitalized and dependent, Bellamie resists admitting the nurse's value, embodying the disconnect between male pride and actual need.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
T fe} s adventurous. A little too enterprising in love, id divorced him, much to his chagrin; for he found when her place was vacant, and the attention she had bestowed upon him was lacking—for she was admirably domestic—that women really differ, although he in common with some other men had professed to believe they were all alike. Bellamie was well able to pay large alimony, but he was stub- born, and that sequel to separation was hanging fire in the courts. In some things Bellamie was more than stubborn. He was what some call headstrong and others *‘bullheaded."” That explained a happening. With a perfectly capable chauf- feur, Bellamie frequently insisted upon driving a motor himself in the most dangerous circumstances. One day he tried to beat a locomotive past a crossing. It was a thousand-to-one shot, and he lost. They took him to the nearest hospital, which happened to be a good one, and there the surgeons experimented with him, dressing and bandaging this abrasion and setting that fracture, un- til some of them expressed the belief that he might recover. One learned doctor thought a slight aphasia might temporarily result. Bellamie had a fever and was delirious for some time. In mental wanderings he often called for Gertrude. This would indi- cate that some men out of their minds are more sensible than in them, for Gertrude was the name of his former wife. A remark- ably clever nurse had been provided for him, and she did every- thing that was possible for an invalid who became more and more impossible as he neared normal mentality. “*Where am I, Gertrude?’’ Bellamie asked one day as he came out of chaos and looked about uncertainly. “Oh, you are in a comfortable place,’’ the nurse replied. you've been very ill, and you must keep quiet.’” “Quiet, eh? Well, I’m not used to quiet. Understand?’? And he tried vainly to rise. Then he looked at his hands as though they were another person's. And taking nourishment as though it didn’t matter at all to him, he fell asleep. The next day Bellamie sat up while his temperature was taken and looked affectionately at his nui “Well, I must say,"” said he, falling back on his pillow, ‘‘you're better looking than ever, my dear.”” **Do you mean me?"’ asked the nurse. Whom should I mean?"' And he looked around to see. *m just your nurse, you know."* **Just my nurse, eh? You forget you're also my wife “Oh, no, I'm not."" “The devil you say! Do you think I'm blind as well as sick?"’ “You're certainly not blind, luckily for you; but I'm not your wife, just the same.’’ “*So you're a nurse, eh?’’ “Haven't I been nursing you?”’ “But comicbooks.com