Judge, 1917-04-28 · page 6 of 28
Judge — April 28, 1917 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top illustration:** Shows women's legs and feet in various boots and shoes, with a small dog. This satirizes women's fashions of the era, particularly footwear styles. **"Ballade Passée" poem by Ruth Wright Kauffman:** A nostalgic lament about the speaker's past popularity ("five years ago"). She recalls when men pursued her, brought her gifts ("bagatelle"), and competed for her attention. Now she's unmarried and forgotten, asking repeatedly "What has become of the men?" The satire mocks women's dependence on male attention and courtship for social value and identity. **Lower illustration and caption:** Shows a domestic scene where a woman tells a man about wage negotiations with her cook. This jokes about the "servant problem"—post-WWI labor shortages and servants' increased wage demands—reflecting class anxieties of the period.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
PUBLIC HIGH WAY BALLADE PASSEE By RUTH WRIGHT KAUFFMAN THey used to call me quite a belle Five years—about —ago; The boys all followed me pell-mell: Indeed, they were de trop: And every gay Lothario asking for me then. In those days we had mistletoe. — What has become of the men? W My rose was on each youth’s lapel; My phrases were bon mots; Each caller brought some bagatelle: It was so apropos; I might wear silk or calico. No matter where or when, Or even don a domino: What has become of the men? There's e and Jenny and Estelle Made husbands of their beaux They didn’t do so very well— They’ve worn out their trousseaux.— I have not yet my quid-pro-quo: I might have married ten; But now there are no men to show! What has become of the men? . . Oh, changing winds may chance to blow My lost birds back again! I'll cage them fast—and then L'll know What has become of the men The Exodus of Genesis She—Don't you just love to think of Eden and our first parents? He—Oh, I don’t know. You see. mine got divorced so often that I can’t remember which were the first. These Modern Minervas! He—My love, you are fairer and brighter far than yonder star. , “I don't know what I'm going to do. My cook won't stay unless She—Well, I should hope so! ‘That one has I rage her wages been extinct a thousand years. “Can't you manage to raise part of them >” comicbooks.com