Judge, 1917-03-03 · page 14 of 28
Judge — March 3, 1917 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This story-cartoon illustrates a classic marital drama set aboard a ship. A naval officer's wife, traveling as "Miss" to surprise her husband in Manila, meets Herbert Oxford, a businessman also connected to Manila. Oxford confides that his wife has been unfaithful and disappeared—he tears up her photograph in despair. The "eternal triangle" (a standard literary/theatrical trope of the era) resolves when the woman reveals she's actually Oxford's wife, returning to her father in Manila after discovering *her husband* entertaining another woman there. She produces the patched photograph—the same one he destroyed—revealing the cruel symmetry: both spouses were betrayed. The satire comments on marital infidelity, particularly how colonial postings (Manila was a U.S. possession) enabled moral compromises. The "Little Boy Blue" advertisement below is unrelated product placement.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE ETERNAL TRIANGLE she said. “I am on my way to join my husband, a naval officer now at Hono- lulu after a cruise from Manila.” “Tstand rebuked,” he answered.“ But y do you travel as ‘Miss’?” “I want to. sur- prise him, and thought the passen- ger list might be for- warded y go to Manila, where my large interests, though we retain residence in New York And now that I've confessed I want you to tell me something of yourse! Your card isn’t communicative. And I'm curi- ous!” His card bore the name “Her- bert Oxford.” “Curious about what?” “About your almost constant moodi- ness." “T don’t: know why I should tell any one the cause until I have adjusted mat- ters. But you've been confidential with me, and we are already friends, I hope. I've been a soldier, but for three years have had an interest in a big business at Manila that calls for journeys tothe States. I took my wife to Manila, where we ljved in good style. She enjoyed social dissipa- tions. I did not. We-fell apart. I was summoned to New York. On my arrival I found a cable from a friend telling me another man was paying her attention Soon another came advising me she had disappeared. Really, [ can’t understand why I'm telling you this!” His face hardened. “You said something about adjusting matters. Don’t you know such a woman isn’t worth the hazard a barbaric idea of revenge impli He did not answer, but turned away She respected his mood, but observing him forward saw him tear something and cast it over the rail as he walked on. - The wind brought most of the fragments back. He disappeared, and with a woman's curiosity, she picked the pieces up as they were tossed in her direction. They were fragments of a woman's photograph. He greeted her next day, just before Honolulu was sighted, as though nothing had happened. They went ashore to- gether, she to put up at a hotel, whence she said she should advise her husband of her arrival, and he to motor toa point he desired to visit during the brief stop of the Nippon Maru. As the vessel resumed her voyage Ox- ford stood by the rail watching the fading city. He felt that some one was near, and turning found “Miss Bellaire” by his side. {He looked at her in amazement. “T thought. . . “T've changed my plans,” she said, laughing, but the girlish look was gone. “Lm going to Manila to my father.” “ft wonder I didn’t see you come aboard. But your husband ” I didn’t want you to see me until the ship had sailed. “I wasn’t expected, of course. I found him entertaining a woman he met in Manila.” And she handed Ox- ford a patched photograph. oe TIN bet F cI L cr a — my ply - - Should you find it necessary to weigh your- self on the hay scales, and should you have a purple and red complexion, and limbs like bridge piers, what costume could be more appropriate than that of Little Boy Blue? comicbooks.com