Judge, 1918-10-26 · page 9 of 32
Judge — October 26, 1918 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Explanation for Modern Readers This page from *Judge* magazine contains several short humorous pieces and jokes typical of early 20th-century American satire. The bottom illustration, "They Drew Lots to See Who'd Be the Kaiser, and Bobby Got Stuck," references World War I. Children are drawing lots (deciding by chance) to assign roles in a game, with one child apparently assigned the role of the Kaiser (German Emperor Wilhelm II, the enemy). The joke mocks the Kaiser as an undesirable role no one wants. The other pieces are brief comic vignettes: "Mary" mocks someone who repeats witty remarks; "Pessimoptimism" plays on the words "optimism" and "blues"; various short dialogues joke about homelessness, ticklishness, shoe prices, and social awkwardness. These are lightweight humor pieces exploiting puns, wordplay, and observations about contemporary manners and wartime anxieties—typical of satirical magazines of this era aimed at middle-class readers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Mary By A. Laue M ARY had an epigram; She read it in the paper, And everywhere that Mary went Her friends tried to escape her. Pessimoptimism By Haray Kesp PTIMISM is a prism That breaks plain White into hues: But the fault with Pessimism Is, it gives us only “Blues”! His Handicap “I d’know how Spike is going to make out, over there in France,” said Heloise of the rapid fire restaurant. “When he is decorated with a crawx de gar for taking a couple 0’ cannons or killing a dozen Germans with his bare hands, and he gets kissed by one 0’ them grizzly whiskered French generals, poor Spike is liable to cut up something awful—he always was so ticklish.” His Say Lady of House—What would you say to a good steady job? Tramp—Good-night! Homeless Billings —Where is your home? Jones—I have none. Billings—Where do you live? Jones—New York. Safety First 3 Nipp—Flubdub always exercises ex- - treme caution, Drawn by Hauitros Wiutass Tuck—Yes, if Flubdub should ever” Friend—Why, man, how on earth did you get get to the top the first thing he would so dreadfully battered up Financial Note Sunday School Teacher—What do we mean when we speak of borrowing from Peter to pay Paul? do would be to look around for the — Cripple—Battered nothing. The fact is, I Willie Wise—I guess we mean that fire escapes. cheaper the present shoe prices, I find this peter is an easy mark. . The Way We Do His Way “T saw Blynker this morning for the first time in months “I have a brother-in-law,” confessed Cyrus K. Savage, y on his Of course, I shook hands with him and told him I was glad to “whose highest ambition is to have time hang heavi hands. When he enters a revolving door he lingers therein “T detest him, too.” until somebody comes along in a hurry and slams him through.” BBs AEA 3 MR IS see him back. But— “Yes,” returned J. Fuller Gloom. Draven by J. R. Suaven Turey Drew Lots to See Wuo’p Be tue Kaiser, anp Bossy Got Stuck. comicbooks.com