Judge, 1915-09-11 · page 10 of 28
Judge — September 11, 1915 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a romantic short story rather than political satire. The narrative describes a young woman named Myrtilla eloping with her lover Horatio despite her father's disapproval. Horatio arrives dramatically in a rainstorm, climbs to her window, and they escape by motorcar to a waiting yacht. The small joke at the top—about Josephine wanting entry to society primarily to exclude a rival—is mild social commentary on female competitiveness and snobbery, typical of Judge's light satirical humor. The story itself emphasizes the romantic drama of elopement, with vivid descriptions of the storm and their escape. The title "A 14-Carrot Ring" (a pun on "carat") suggests an engagement ring, though the wordplay appears in the illustration caption rather than the narrative itself. This reflects early 20th-century magazine fiction blending humor with sentimental romance.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A REASON Mildred—Why is Josephine so anxious to get in society? T H E E FOR IT Gertrude—She knows another girl she wants to keep out. LO P EM E N T ° Ry JOUN KENDRICK BANGS IGHT had fallen and all was in readiness. At the gate the motor stood silently panting, while the rain fell in torren in the house, her heart beating like a trip-hammgg, sat Myrtilla, awaiting the fateful moment when in the arms of her lover she should embark upon the perilous seas of life, despite her father’s veto. As she sat there in the pitchy blackness of the night she let her mind run over the tion. Was she acting wisely or otherwisely? There was no denying that Horatio was a spendthrift, but—‘‘I love him!" Unquestionably Horatio’s past had been unusually checkered, but what of that? “I love him!” The record of his divorce from his first wife was little to his credit, but, “If she had loved him as I do all would have gone well.” And so on. The picture of the delinquent was glorified by the halo of her love, and so, her resolution growing stronger withevery passing moment—she awaited the tap on her window. ¢ @ @ Without the tempest continued un- abating, but despite the stinging fury of the storm one true heart remained fixed to its purpose. Stealing softly over the dripping lawns after the manner of a Cooper Indian on the trail, came the stalwart figure of a man, armed cap- with the splen- did accoutrements of the trained mo- torist. The sleeting hail beat wildly upon his goggles. The strident winds set the sodden tails of his rain-coat to beating like a flail upon his sturdy A 14-CARROT RING calves. From his broad shoulders the waters streamed as over the crest of a miniature Niagara, but undismayed he crept on and on to the foot of the ladder, and thence up and up, rung after rung, to the sill of Myrtilla’s window. TAP-TAP-TAP!” The sound, muffled by the tempest’s roar, soft as it was, was heard instantly echoing in the heart of love. “Horatio!” “Myrtilla!” “At last!” Two voices blended in the black- ness of the night. @# @ @ Five minutes later the panting motor, the man at the. wheel, the girl at his side, sped wildly over the mired road. “Is it much further, Horatio?” she whispered, after an hour of this. “The yacht lies a mile off the Cragsmere = Cliff: he answered. “We'll be there in fifteen minutes.” ¢ @ @ . Slowly the anchor of the steam- yacht Kismet rose up out of the depths of Quinnipiak Bay, and the faint clangor of a bell below signalled the start. Like a woman turning froma bargain counter the nose of the craft swung toward the outer waters, while two figures, those of a man and a woman, stood by the rail and faced the sea, and the future, together. a Soest