Judge, 1916-04-29 · page 17 of 28
Judge — April 29, 1916 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains multiple humorous short pieces satirizing early 20th-century social concerns: **Main cartoon**: Shows a couple where the woman displays an increasingly revealing or fashionable dress. The satirical poems and jokes mock: 1. **"Uneasy Payments"** - critiques installment buying ("so little down / And so much all the rest"), a new consumer practice causing financial anxiety 2. **"Safe So Far"** - jokes about an ammunition factory operating without catastrophe during "leap year" (when women traditionally pursue men), suggesting wartime and gender-role anxieties 3. **"By Degrees"** - mocks wives gradually introducing husbands to increasingly extreme fashions to normalize them 4. **The wind sonnet** - satirizes how gusty weather revealing women's clothing creates excitement for observers while women navigate social embarrassment The page reflects 1910s-era anxieties: consumer debt, women's changing fashion (shorter skirts), wartime manufacturing, and shifting gender dynamics. The humor targets both modern consumer culture and evolving social propriety.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE APPLE OF HIS EYE GROWS LESS Uneasy Payments H! well may the birdies gayly sing As they build their nests with glee; Oh! well may they flutter on careless wing From blossoming tree to tree; Oh! well may they joyously grect the dawn And happily may they cheep When raindrops sparkle upon the lawn Or when twilight shadows creep. With cause may they warble with pure delight, Their thankfulness to attest, Ere they smuggle down for the peaceful night In their snug brown homes for rest. Full glad may they be in those homes of brown, Full ready their lot to praise— They don’t have to furnish ‘em “so little down” And so much all the rest of their days! Lee Shi ppey. Sure To If trouble were a needle in a haystack some people would find it easily enough. Safe So Far Visitor—How are things here in town? Uncle Eben—Fine. We have had an am- munition factory in operation for two months here and we've had three months of leap year and there ain’t been any catas- trophes from cither yet. Pedestrian Osculation “Yes, sir! I suppose I’ve kissed a girl on every hundred square feet of this beach.” “Must have been some trouble to keep moving her about.”” By Degrees “My dear, isn’t that dress a trifle ex- trem She—Extreme! Why I put this on in order that you may become accustomed to the one I am having made. Sonnet to a High Wind S IF in answer to milady’s prayer, Whose frock is all the latest mode decrees And in her quiet moments hides her knees, You come, and bring extremes she did not dare. It matters not what time you come, or where, Some thankful soul is always near, to seize Your proffered glimpse of half hid mysteries And either turn away or raptly stare. A boon to her that gives and him that gots: A God-sent mediator from on high; You stay the stinging arrows of regrets: ’Twas none of theirs that you should intervene Or that you failed to blind his watchful eye To grace and beauty long since guessed, un- seen. —Corwin H. Giddings. To-morrow Swimmin’ MIN. 2 comicbooks.com