Judge, 1915-07-31 · page 13 of 28
Judge — July 31, 1915 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical story illustrated by J. A. Waldron depicting marital jealousy among the wealthy leisure class. At a steeplechase horse race, Mr. Oglecamp is caught by his wife paying excessive attention to another woman, Mrs. Billings, rather than watching the race. The "intrigue" is Mrs. Oglecamp's calculated response: she appears to forgive him while subtly demonstrating her own awareness and suspicions—noting that he sent their chauffeur John to the Billings car, implying he may have passed a note. The cartoon satirizes upper-class social conventions, where marital tension is masked by politeness and veiled accusations delivered through seemingly innocent observations. The joke targets both the husband's transparent flirtation and the wife's clever psychological counter-strategy, exposing the performative nature of "civilized" behavior among society's elite.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE By J. ay DIPLOMACY WALDRON OF INTRIGUE ett LLOK Se THe STEEPLECHASE had just started. Oglecamp and his wife were standing in their car, ostensibly to catch stages of a sort of race difficult to follow. **Anything on this event?"’ asked Mrs. Oglecamp. “I've a litle both ways on the favorite,’’ he replied. “But your mind isn’t really on the race, dear. I don't believe you really know which horse is leading.”’ “*What!"’ “You've been looking in the wrong direction, your glasses half a dozen times at Mrs. Billings over there. I saw her handkerchief flutter a signal to you every time. need a binocular to observe things so open."* “A jealous woman’s imagination can see things the Lick tele- scope would miss.’” “Did I ever lead you to think I'm jealous?’’ Mrs. Oglecamp laughed as though there wasn’t a thing on her mind. “Would anything but jealousy lead you to imagine I'm flirting with any woman when I’m simply scanning the crowd? There are a lot of stunning women to look at. Why did you single out Mrs. Billings?" You leveled And I don't “For several reasons. You singled her out last night—danced with her several times—leaving me"’ “Leaving you to dance with Billings *‘Just once that happened. I took pity on him. But I don’t blame you for singling her out to-day. She's quite the most stun- ning woman here."* “You forget yourself, dear.’” tone. “Well, were you thinking of me when you were watching ner?"” “Pish!"" Oglecamp leveled his glasses afield. Now I know you're watching the horses. Who's leading?’’ Phantom, The favorite. I'll win my wager. But see here, Mary, I'm also going to teach you a lesson."" es? I'm rather apt, I think. How?’’ m going over to talk to Mrs, Billings, just because you thought I was flirting with her. I suppose you'll want to tag along.’” **No. Somebody should remain with the car. I see you sent John over to the Billings car. Chauffeurs are handy persons. Perhaps you sent a note with him. Billings isn’t out to-day, it seems. John is talking shop, or horse, with their chauffeur now."* There was a sting in Oglecamp’s comichooks.conm