Judge, 1915-09-11 · page 15 of 28
Judge — September 11, 1915 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains several satirical pieces reflecting early 20th-century social humor: **"An Echo"** (poem by Fred Ladd): Nostalgic commentary on aging. A man recalls his youth doing farm labor under an impatient boss's demands ("Pitch hay!"), now ironically hears those same urgencies in life's pressures—suggesting we never escape the relentless demands of our era. **"The Generality of Mankind"**: A brief joke about social obligation. The host notes that boring people wouldn't visit if they weren't inherently boring—dark humor about why we tolerate tedious guests. **"The Reward of Helpfulness"**: Punning joke where attempting to help a stammering friend by "fussing" over him causes the helper to develop a stutter—karmic irony about well-intentioned meddling backfiring. **"The Only Drawback"** (cartoon): Satirizes marriage discord. The De Vorces would be "ideally married" except they're married *to each other*—biting commentary on incompatible spouses. The bottom dialogue mocks couples' petty blame-shifting about being late. All pieces use humor to critique human nature, aging, social pretense, and marital friction.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The landscape painter—What a beautiful evening ! An Echo H, HAY: but that real substance which When you were young you had, by Heck, to pitch, "Way up durned high upon the load; and then, The tough hired man just grinned when Uncle Ben Would holler, “Hey, there! Pitch thet hay! D’ yew Think we got all day, an’ ter-morrer tew, T’ git a couple o' loads intew th’ barn? Pitch hay! Pitch hay! Git a hustle on—Gol darn!’" ‘not he; The years are many; long the days have seemed; You've toiled and hoped; you've fought, and maybe dreamed: In city streets you've struggled, and battled and sweat: Your burden you've borne; and are bearing it That tough hired man like grass has passed away; And Uncle Ben—but can’t you hear him say, “Drive keerful, bo: and then—"Pitch hay! Pitch hay!” —Fred Ladd The Generality of Mankind Hostess (after the guests have departed)—Oh, dear! visitors weren't: such awful bores! Host—lf they were not bores most of them wouldn't be visitors. I wish The Reward of Helpfulness I undertook to cure a friend who stammered day and night; I thought ‘twould be philanthropy, and excellent and right. And so I fussed and fooled witn him the best that I could do, And didn’t help him out a bit; and now I stutter, too! —Tennyson J. Datt. His wife—Yes. Would it sell ? The Only Drawback “The De Vorces would be ideally married if it were not for one thing.” “What's that?” “The fact that they are married to each other.” “If you hadn’t taken so long to dress, we wouldn't have missed this train.” “And if youhadn’t hurried me so, we wouldn’t have had to wait so long for the next one.” comicbooks.com