Judge, 1918-10-19 · page 13 of 32
Judge — October 19, 1918 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Explanation for Modern Readers This Judge magazine page contains three separate humor pieces using dialect and social satire: **Main cartoon (top):** "The American Idea of 'Digging In'" depicts soldiers in combat, illustrating the phrase's dual meaning—both literal (digging trenches) and figurative (persisting stubbornly). The art is by Walter De Maris. **Three brief jokes below:** - **"A Flimsy Excuse"**: Rural dialect humor about a father criticizing his son for avoiding washing before the Presiding Elder's visit - **"A Worthy Cause"**: A man solicits funeral subscriptions, joking he's "a dead one"—meaning socially ruined - **"Age Before Beauty"**: A diner complains about his steak; the waiter quips the complaint suits the customer, not the meat **"His Importance" and "Hardihood"** are brief anecdotes using African American vernacular and club gossip. The satire relies on period conventions: rustic dialect humor, class-based jokes, and observational comedy about masculine social behavior. The overall tone is lighthearted, though the dialect presentation reflects outdated racial stereotyping common to early 20th-century American humor magazines.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘Tur American Ipea or “Diccine A Flimsy Excuse “Looky yur, Bearcat!” severely said Mr. Gap Johnson, of “Dat man Rumpus Ridge, Ark., addressing his four-ve toget out of washing your face before the Presiding Elder comes by saying that you'll have to wash it again tomorrow. Nosuchstufl; muh wife's fust In ‘rived oldson. “Don’ttry — Brother Utterback, “and when I specitiec was pompousin’ all over de place dat-uh-way, he said he was husband. [ axed him how did dat fact ‘fect residenc His Importance related battered how-come dat he we ain't going to have any more company till next Saturday.” me. He ‘nounced dat he would pow’ful soon show me. And A Worthy Cause Raggles—I'm soliciting subscriptions to pay me funeral expenses Dyer—Funcral expenses! Raggles—Yep. Everybody tells me I’m a dead one. Age Before Beauty “Waiter, this is not a very good-looking piece of meat.’ “Well, sir, you ordered a Drawn by W. K. Stannert plain steak.” Gersax Die Storrs he did, too! He slapped and hommered me fum yuh to vander. De gen’leman mought not uh-been muh wife’s fust husband, but he sho’ was somebody mighty impawtant!”” Hardihood Some men will attempt anything. There is, for ex- ample, the man who an- nounces at the club that he is going to tell a new story. comicbooks.com