Judge — October 7, 1916 — page 3: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Host and House Guest" This cartoon satirizes excessive displays of marital affection in social situations. The host (standing right, smoking) complains to his guest (seated) about continuous kissing between husband and wife. The host suggests restraint—kissing only upon arrival and departure—rather than constant public displays "just to please you." The satire targets early 20th-century social conventions around public displays of affection. The "house guest" appears to be someone whose presence encourages or enables excessive romantic behavior, disrupting normal household decorum. The cartoon mocks both the couple's behavior and the guest's apparent influence, treating marital affection as something that should be rationed and controlled within polite society. The humor relies on readers finding such constant kissing socially inappropriate or exhausting.