Judge, 1915-06-12 · page 6 of 24
Judge — June 12, 1915 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct pieces: **Main Story ("Reminiscent")**: Two elderly men (Bufington and Spencer, both in their 70s) nostalgically compare modern dance—likely 1920s jazz and social dancing—unfavorably to traditional rural American dances of their youth: the Virginia reel, quadrilles, and schottishes. They reminisce about old fiddler Cy Buck calling changes in farmhouse kitchens and New Hampshire town halls, contrasting this wholesome past with contemporary youth culture they view as shallow. **Lower Cartoon ("The Submarine Attack" / "How to Utilize Cast-off Periscopes")**: Depicts a figure in a bathtub being attacked by a submarine periscope—likely satirizing World War I naval warfare anxieties by absurdly applying them to domestic life. The page reflects early 20th-century generational anxiety about changing social customs and leisure activities, with older generations viewing new dance styles as morally questionable compared to earlier, community-centered traditions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
N I By MAX MERRY. UFINGTON, who looked his seventy-four years in spite of his toupee and his recent facial massage, and Spencer, a year younger, were sitting in a corner, watching the dancing when Spencer's granddaughter was being ‘‘intro- duced"’ at the ‘‘dinner dance.’’ There was a faraway look in Bufington’s eyes and a reminiscent note in his voice when he turned to Spencer and said, “It isn’t much like the dancing we did when we were young bucks, eh, Spencer?"’ “You just bet it isn’t, Buf!'’ said Spencer, with marked emphasis. ‘'There wasn’t any turkey trotting or cabaret business in the dancing we did up there among the old New Hampshire hills. Remember the dances we used to have in some of the old farmhouse kitchens or in the town hall? Remember the old Virginia reel?’’ ‘There's some things written with indelible ink in the mind and on the heart of a country boy, Spencer, and the old Virginia reel is one of them. I remem- ber how Susie Peters and I used to lead off, and you and Maggie Kentley used to follow us. Remember that? Last I heard of Susie, she had eleven children and weighed two hundred and forty, and she weighed about ninety in the days when we led off in the Virginia reel. Remember how old Cy Buck, the town fiddler, used to put his chair on the kitchen table and saw out old ‘Money- musk’ and ‘Granny, Will Your Dog Bite?’ and ‘Old Dan Tucker’? Remember that?’ **Lord, don’t I, though? I remember how he used to call the changes as well as fiddle the tunes. I can hear him now screeching out, ‘All set a- standin’! and ‘Right hand to pardner and grand right and left!’ and ‘Lady in the center and seven hands round!’ and ‘Cheat or swing!’ Remember how we used to grab up the girls and about carry them off their feet when old Buck yelled out, ‘Prom'nade all—to your seats!’ "’ s THE SUBMARINE ATTACK HOW TO UTILIZE CAST-OFF PERISCOPES “Say, Buf, that dancing those youngsters are doing out there ain't fit to be mentioned in the same breath with our old quadrilles and schottishes. Remember how we used to ‘Cage the queen’ and ‘Doe see doe,’ and how we kicked up our heels when old Buck yelled out, *Ev'rybody dance’? You remember how we used to go across the street to old Benson's ‘ice-cream parlor’ and get the girls ice cream after the dances Remember how the dishes of ice cream used to diminish about one- third in size when old Benson took his thumb out of them when he set them down before us? But who cared? You know how we used to hike back to the hall and go at it again with the first girl we could grab up? No fool little card with a fool of a pencil dangling