Judge, 1915-05-29 · page 11 of 24
Judge — May 29, 1915 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a society satire about **Hebe Wymple**, a wealthy widow whose behavior scandalizes her social circle. The cartoon depicts two of her female friends gossiping about her in an elegant interior. **The Social Critique:** The story mocks Hebe for abandoning widow's mourning conventions (the black "weeds") too quickly and resuming an active social life. More pointedly, it satirizes her for simultaneously flirting with multiple men while claiming to "study" them for remarriage selection—transparently using courtship as a pastime rather than sincere mate-seeking. **The Satire's Target:** The piece ridicules both Hebe's behavior and her friends' hypocritical judgment: they claim to love her while cataloging her faults (no longer "svelte," vain, neglecting her husband's grave). The final line suggests life's demands justify her conduct, yet the text implies her real motivation is pleasure-seeking disguised as matrimonial consideration. **Historical Context:** This reflects 1920s anxieties about post-war women's independence and changing sexual mores—particularly widows' newfound freedom and the "flapper" generation's rejection of Victorian propriety.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
CROWDED AFTERNOON y a. WALDRON WO OF Hebe Wymple’s dear women friends were discussing “It certainly makes demands upon Hebe.’ And Hebe's dear her, friends laughed significantly, but of course without malice. They “*T love Hebe,”’ said one, ‘*but she in.” were happily married. “Yes. And she has the beauty and temperament that make Wymple, deceased, had left Hebe well furnished, and her path ; vanity dangerous, aid the other. was free. She had resumed joyous activity at the earliest period ‘ **Do you thin! ¢ is really beautiful? Sh no longer svelte. permitted by convention, after conventional mourning. She was | Dut she is good-looking !"" accomplished in arts that make woman attractive, and she went | “And she has discarded her weeds. She looked better in black.’ vt to conquer. **And she will now let weeds grow where she has kept memo- Hebe loved to philander. To her it was a glorious pastime to f rial flowers in bloom. Do you remember how often she went to fool around with two or three men and keep each of them ignorant : the cemetery?" of her division of favor. Even when she began to think she ought . hasn't been since last fall. But shall we blame her? to marry again she was prone to flirt, while trying to convince e Life, after all, makes imperative demands upon the living."’ herself that she was studying this man and that for selection. comicbooks.com