Judge, 1918-05-04 · page 5 of 38
Judge — May 4, 1918 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical piece mocks the "fireless cooker"—an early insulated cooking device requiring no fuel. The humor centers on **ambiguity**: the phrase "less and less" describes both the cooker's supposed efficiency *and* its ultimate failure. The story follows Mr. Grimley, who skeptically tests this newfangled appliance on chicken. Following instructions to seal it tightly, he discovers his lunch frozen solid—the cooker worked *too well*, becoming an unintended deep-freezer rather than an actual cooking vessel. The satire targets both **overhyped consumer technology** and **gullible consumers** eager to embrace innovations. Published during WWI (note the coal/gas conservation angle), it reflects period anxieties about wartime rationing and dubious "scientific" solutions marketed to the home.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Volume 74 $5.00 a Year JUDGE Founded 1881 “THE HAPPY eMEDIUM” New York, May 4, 1918 Number 1907 Published Weekly Less and Less Being an Illustration of the Virtue of Ambiguity By D. B. Vax Buren Illustrated by Aubert LevERING EN readily fall under the dominionof phrases. Epochs have been ob- sessed by catch-wordsy and now we have an age spellbound by a syllable. Take any simple, friendly word that you have known and loved from childhood, add “LESS” to it and at once it becomes a cross between a fetich and a cyclone—no one knows what it will do or where to go to escape it. Grimley thought of this as he’ contemplated the new _fireless cooker. Its varnished exterior Sue Hetp Out tHe Icy Remains as A Motuer Micut tHe Bopy oF A Stain CuiLp roused his suspicions. It has the specious plausibility of the polished villain in contrast with the rustic honesty of stove lids, and he wondered how any good thing could come out of it. “Am I expected to believe,” he asked Mrs. Grimley, “that you seriously propose to cook serious meals in that tin can, and without any fire?” “Certainly,” she told him, “everyone does. You simply put the things in, shut down the lid and leave them. They can’t possibly burn and you save any amount of coal or gas, whichever you use.” ing the dictum of the eminent Hun philosopher to the effect that women can’t even cook; but he had heard of people using fireless cookers, so he thought it might be well to await results before venturing any comments. For a week, he feasted high on the output of the fireless cooker. To Mrs. Grimley it was a new toy, and with an instruction book in one hand and a disc hook in the other, she made it work. But women go out occasionally, leaving the affairs of the household hang- ing on the precarious thread of the masculine intelligence, hence it was no surprise to Grimley, on arriving home at noon, to find his lunch laid out on the table and a note reposing on his plate, the writing showing signs of haste and emotion. It said: “Put the chicken in the fireless cooker. It is all ready in the ice box as soon as you come home and don’t forget the soapstone discs and be sure and clamp the lid down tight and be sure and shut the ice box and don’t forget as you always do and empty the ice box pan.” Grimley was incredulous, recall- WL Tue Fireress Cooker Tuat Froze to Deatu comicbooks.com