Judge, 1915-07-31 · page 12 of 28
Judge — July 31, 1915 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from the satirical magazine *Judge* contains multiple short humorous pieces targeting early 20th-century social attitudes and situations: **Main Cartoon (top):** A young woman announces an impending marriage proposal to her mother while two men (likely her parents or guardians) listen. The humor suggests the men are discussing the suitor's recent enrollment in a "cooking and domestic science" course—implying he's unprepared for marriage, or that such education is an unusual/comical qualification for a husband. **Racial Humor:** Several pieces ("Insight," "Shooting Simultaneously") feature dialect humor mocking African Americans, reflecting the period's casual racism. The "Insight" piece presents Black women as ignorant about automobiles; "Shooting Simultaneously" depicts an elderly Black man as inarticulate in court testimony. **Other Items:** "The Poet's Star" jokes about a power outage; "Successful Fiction" mocks children's obvious lies; "A Summer Victim" plays on the phrase "paddle his own canoe." The page reflects *Judge's* satirical approach: social commentary mixed with casual period stereotyping that modern readers would find offensive.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Poet's Star STAR shone out upon the night 4 And sent its ray afar; The poet turned him toward the light, To find his guiding star. Scarce was he called to heights unknown, When this thing came about: The power house shut the current down— The poet's star went out! —Eldredge Denison. Successful Fiction by Young Authors No, mother, I didn’t touch the jam. I think it must have been kitty that up- set the cookie jar. I'll eat every scrap of my dinner after- ward if you'll let me have my dessert first. If you'll give me an- other piece of candy, I won't go outside the yard all day. Honest, he hit me first.—Lee Shippey. Insight A Washington man passing a row of sub- stantial houses occu- pied by colored folk overheard the words of two women taking their ease on a porch: “What is it makes Daughter—Mother, | think Mr. Friendly will propose. a night course in cooking and domestic science them automobiles go, anyhow, Mirandy?"’ said one of the comfortable black ladies, with the air of making profound con- versation. “Well,” said the other, after a moment’s thought, ‘it’s allus been my understan’in’ ‘at dey has machinery inside of ’em."’ Explained Milly—I rode all the way up to Harlem in the same subway car with you the other day. Billy—That’s strange. Milly—Oh, I don't know. seat, and I was standing. I didn’t see you. You had a Friend—Say, Bill, what was that we struck ? Bill—Oh, that wasn’t anything but a canoe with a couple in it, have torn the bottom out of us. He said only last night that he was taking up If it had been a log it would Shooting Simultaneously NCLE BEN, a very careful old darky, was a witness in a shooting case. “Were the shots simultaneous, uncle?’’ ired the prosecuting attorney. “Well, boss, you see, hit wuz dis way,”” replied the witness, with great deliberation, *‘Dem shots come so close togedder dat I cain’t be sho’ ef dey wuz er not.’’ in A Summer Victim He was sure that everything he knew. Poor fellow, his fate was grim! He tried to paddle his own canoe Before he had learned to swim. Ain’t It the Truth? Tommy—What's an “‘anomaly,"" pa? Pa—A_ newspaper photograph of a Wash- ington society woman of any age who isn't a ‘‘popular member of the younger set.’* In Plain Sight “*Tremendous num- ber of casualties, I see by the paper.” ‘*What paper?’” “The fly paper."* comichooks.com