Judge, 1917-01-06 · page 7 of 32
Judge — January 6, 1917 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This *Judge* magazine page satirizes early automobile culture (likely 1910s-1920s). The main cartoon shows "Miss Prim of Boston"—a prim, proper woman—lounging on a museum display case, bewildering museum visitors. The joke: she finds nothing amusing about classical sculptures because she's distracted by modern social concerns (automobiles, dating etiquette). The surrounding vignettes mock car ownership anxiety: neighbors' jealousy over affording vehicles, the irony of buying dangerous cars to avoid them, and social confusion about courtship in the car era. "The Cause" and "Force of Habit" darkly satirize automobile deaths—a reckless driver kills multiple people; a drowned skater ignored warning signs because he was habituated to ignoring traffic dangers. The overall message: rapid automobile adoption has created social anxiety, moral distraction, and tragic consequences. The satire mocks both Victorian propriety (Miss Prim) and modern car culture's dangers and status-consciousness.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
| Reh Miss Prim, of Boston, cannot for the life of her understand what there is to laugh at in the antique room of the museum easy to make it in an afternoon if you came early. We could stay to supper and come home in the moonlight. Could you manage it say Friday afternoon?” A Good Reason “Why don’t you buy a car, Walker?” “T will tell you. All my neighbors think I can afford one and 1 don’t want them to find out that I can't.” Why Should He? _ Owhy should a mortal be proud of a red Runabout with a limp and a cold in its head, When every last person who lives on the block Knows that -b stead in ing that car put the home- ck? No More Dodging Crawford —Motor cars are very danger ous. Crabshaw—That’s the reason 'm going to buy one. A Misunderstandable Situation Vaney—I wonder why Tom and Elsie are behaving so strangely? Vahel—Tom’s afraid Elsie’s going to propose, and Elsie’s afraid Tom isn’t. The Voices HE heard the voice of Duty, But it sounded faint and far. She was busy getting ready For an outing in the She he: the voice of Nature Sr ing through the woodland brook, But the car was running swiftly, And she had no time to look ar. She heard the voice of Conscience, And she knew she should attend; But she put off list’ning to it Till she had more time to spend. She heard the voice of Fashion On a very busy day, And she dropped all other matters, And she heeded right away Walter G. Doty. The Cause A SLIGHT disturbance arose outside of a church in the far-back Ozarks where a funeral was being solemniz “What's going on, out there? pered an usher to a late comer. “Aw, the hearse and the pall-b wagon ‘pear to be jockying for position,” replied the new arrival, who was the owner of a running horse. Whiz-z He struck a man and broke both his legs, Killed two on a corner loafing. And tossed a boy with a basket And the chautfeur kept on chaufing Force of Habit Crawford—I hear a skater was drowned in the pond yesterday. How did it happen? Crabshaw—He was a chauffeur and paid no attention to the “Danger” sign. SQW we 6 Mr. Hanks—It's very stupid of me, I'm sure, but I seem to have the hardest time in remembering your name, Miss Stone. Miss Stone—Yes, Stone is a hard name. comicbooks.com