Judge, 1915-08-21 · page 17 of 28
Judge — August 21, 1915 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct satirical pieces reflecting early 20th-century American humor: **"Chairs"** — A lengthy humorous essay by Stuart W. Knight that treats chairs with mock-serious analysis, cataloging their absurd practical uses (footrests, stepladders, carpet concealment, storage). The satire mocks over-elaborate essays on mundane objects by treating trivial functions with elaborate philosophical weight. **"Wisdom"** — A dialogue between an old and young doctor satirizing medical practice. The older doctor cynically advises prescribing what patients *think* they need (tonics) rather than what they actually need, since patients equate prescriber ignorance with their own knowledge. It mocks both patient self-diagnosis and doctors' willingness to exploit it. **"Different Opinions" and "Not Always Thus"** — Brief workplace and domestic jokes about tardiness, employee management, and church attendance. These mock conventional social excuses and hypocrisy. The cartoon illustrates the "Wisdom" dialogue, showing a domestic dinner scene. The page's overall tone is light social satire aimed at professional incompetence, patient behavior, and workplace dynamics.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Chairs HAIRS are sometimes useful and sometimes merely ornamental articles sprinkled with great profusion throughout all edifices. Those chairs which are ornamental seem also designed for the purpose of discouraging sedentary habits although they sometimes do make an excellent object on which to rest the eyes. The functions of useful chairs are many and varied: They are stood up- on by those who cannot reach the top shelf; they make an ideal footrest when one occupies another chair; they are fine things to stumble over when coming in from a late session with the boys; rightly placed, they make an excellent device for covering that worn spot on the car- pet; their proper arrangement about a table shows who is the head, or at least, in ,the case of family tables, who is the figurehead; they furnish welcome storage facilities for tacks and pins which have been discarded by small boys. An easy chair is one which will suffer all kinds of per- sonal abuse without retaliation. Such a chair stands in marked contrast to that which tips over backward just as one begins to think that it is easy. Chairs which look easy are not always to be trusted. Treacherous chairs have unusual opportunities for deception, for the reason that, regardless of the’amount of suspicious attention one bestows when contemplating their use, when putting them to common use one always turns his back to them, thus flaunting temptation in their faces and putting himself at an exceptional disadvantage. It would probably be wasted time which was spent trying to invent a chair which one could sit in and face at the same time, as a chair’s back is also its front, and its top may be its bottom; but this is not true of human beings. Stuart W. Knight. IT’S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL The calamity howler is the dandelion of the human race. Wisdom Old doctor—Now, when your patient asks you for a tonic, what are you go- ing to do about it? Young doctor—Find what she really needs and prescribe it. Old doctor—Wrong! No success in that method. Whenever your patient has diagnosed her own case and tells you she needs a tonic, you prescribe a tonic every time! Young doctor—Why ? Old doctor—Don't you guess why? Because she will then have to see that you know almost if not quite as much about medicine as she does! Different Opinions Shipping clerk—Yes, I'm a little late again this morning, but better late than never. Boss—Well, I'm going to try never. Get your time. Churches would probably be fuller NOT ALWAYS THUS on Sundays if we had to sneak in through a side door. Babbling Bess (when company comes)—What have you got your coat on for, father ? comicbooks.com