Judge, 1915-07-24 · page 15 of 28
Judge — July 24, 1915 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct pieces of satirical content: **"The Way of Approach"** (main story): A man is robbed at gunpoint on a dark road but is rescued by churchgoers. Later, those same churchgoers—identifying themselves as church members—solicit the man for donations to starving heathens overseas. The satire points out the hypocrisy: both the robbers and the religious solicitors use coercion to extract money, but one is criminalized while the other is morally sanctified. The moral is explicit: the only difference between criminals and respectable people is their "approach"—the manner and social legitimacy of their demands, not the fundamental act itself. **"An Unusual Case"** (bottom): A stranger recalls lending money to a town citizen seventeen years prior, then asks if the citizen will give him another dollar now. The joke satirizes selective charity and memory—people may pride themselves on past generosity but rarely repeat it. Both pieces mock middle-class morality and the gap between professed values and actual behavior.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Jessie—Natalie told me a wicked story last night, and I scolded her. #—Good for you! What kind of a story was i a close at hand, released their hold on the man and fled away through the fields, with- out getting possession of his money. The man greeted the party with deep pleasure. At closer range he identified them as being acquaintances of his who had been to a NAVY The Way of Approach NE DARK night a man strolled along the country road on his way home from the village. In his pocket he carried two silver dollars, which was about all the ready cash he pc ssed, Coming toa sharp turn in the road, he was halted by two hold- up men, who very naturally demanded what money the man had. The man, of course, did not want to give it to them and put upa Struggle, which lasted for several minutes and was brought to an abrupt end by the ap- pearance of a party of several persons, who walked in the road, carrying a lantern. The hold-up men, upon seeing the party church gathering down the road. “Oh, Brother Samuels,’ called one, in the form of a greeting, ‘‘we were just that moment talking about you. We are going to get up fifty dollars to forward to the starving heathens across the ocean, and we have you on our list for two dollars. We knew we could always count on you!" “‘Well,’” responded Brother Samuels, “there it is. It’s yours."’ Then he walked on without telling them of the experience he had just had with the bold hold-up men, but in his mind he philosophized with himself thusly: “There is not such a big difference in people, after all. The only differ- ence really is in the way they approach you."* —George Kingham. Perce 74.6 AN UNUSUAL CASE Stranger—Seventeen years ago I landed here in your town broke. I struck you fora dollar. You gave it to me, saying you never turned a request like that down. Citizen (eagerly) —Yes ? Stranger—Well, are you still game? comicbooks.com