Judge, 1915-10-02 · page 11 of 30
Judge — October 2, 1915 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Judge magazine page satirizes early automotive romance and the "safety first" movement of the 1910s-1920s. **Main cartoon (top):** A woman uses a car's periscope (a novel safety feature) to see the road ahead, removing the "last objection" to this car type—likely implying women drivers. The joke mocks both new automotive technology and contemporary anxieties about women operating vehicles. **Story below:** Tommy and Miss Boylston drive urgently to fetch a surgeon. During the bumpy ride, Miss Boylston accidentally embraces Tommy for safety. Later, embarrassed by the intimate moment, Tommy awkwardly credits the car ("Some car!") rather than acknowledge the romantic encounter. The satire targets how "safety first" becomes a convenient excuse to rationalize improper behavior. **Sidebar jokes:** Mock women's college education and aging husbands' lost romanticism—typical period humor targeting educated women and marriage. The broader satire critiques how modern technology (cars, periscopes) disrupts Victorian propriety while providing plausible deniability.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE PERISCOPE REMOVES THE LAST OBJECTION TO THIS TYPE OF CAR for a specialist; bolted for the telephone. Admiring wonder battled with remorse in Miss Boylston. Presently, Tommy dashed from the house, and sprang into his roadster. “Luck! Caught my man at his office in town!’’ he reported. “He takes the Limited to Bartow. I meet him there. Say! Who knows the road?” Under irresistible impulse Miss Boylston stepped forward. “IT do.” Tommy dragged her to the seat beside him, and the car shot away. It is thirty miles from Fernledge to Barton. They made it in forty-seven minutes; and there being hills and sand and hay-teams to encounter, conversation languished. Still, a method of communi- faltered. Miss Boylston put both hands on his shoulders; her eyes met his. Yo—Some Man!” she said very clearly, and with entire conviction. In Other Words Notice the statistics of marriages among women’s college alumnae? No. What about ’em? Well, it takes three M. A.’s to make one ma. In Days of Yore Daughter—When father was young wasn’t he more romantic? Mother—He was less rheumatic. cation was established between pilot and driver. Miss Boylston having inadvert- Hy ently embraced Tommy, when the car LAAN. drove through a ditch and up the oppo- | hy 4 site bank to avoid a road-hog, the youth Hill } shouted advice as they jounced back to ih the highway: # “That's right!) Hang on! And when there’s a curve or a bad hill ahead, hug me harder!” What did she do? What would any- body do, who's as sweetly sensible as everybody from Boston ought to be. Why, safety first! Anything to save life, of course! They whisked the specialist and his kit to the farm in fifty-three minutes. Miss Boylston insisted upon occupying the rumble seat. In the kindly dusk at the farm the surgeon alighted with alacrity. He spoke fervently about his hair being permanently pompadoured, and _ started up the walk. Tommy looked at Miss Boylston, and Miss Boylston looked at Tommy. After all, it was not too dark to see faces, which were near enough. And Tommy, of a sudden, fell prey to new and Strange embarrassment. He tried to laugh and cough, simultaneously. “Guh—Guh! Some—some car!” he comicbooks.com