Judge, 1920-10-23 · page 17 of 32
Judge — October 23, 1920 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Judge* magazine contains rural humor and satirical columns typical of early 20th-century American comedy. The main content consists of several short, dialogue-based jokes: **"On the Farm" section** features Farmer Corntossel and his wife mocking summer boarders (city people renting farm accommodations) who tell tall tales and can't be believed—calling them "ouija boarders" as a joke about their unreliability. Other jokes mock city visitors seeking "local color" for writing, asking naive questions about parking horses, or offering payment to experience rural dialect—poking fun at both pretentious urbanites and rural stereotypes. **"Words" section** includes a joke about Shakespeare taught in schools, where high school students humorously misname Shakespeare plays ("King Liar" for King Lear, "A Merchant of Venus" for The Merchant of Venice). **"Watt—Again?"** is a pun-based joke playing on the name "Watt" with electricity terminology ("light reading," "ampereing"). The humor is gentle, focusing on class differences between city and country, and educational gaps rather than serious political satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ON THE FARM Se a Getting Them Classified —" I hoxc new arrivals,” remarked Farmer Corn tossel, “monopolize the conversation and you can’t believe a word they say.” Yes.” rejoined his wife. “That's why I call them our ouija boarders.” Washington Star Information Wanted —~ Gimme bit of advice.” said old Farmer Heck to the er boarder. “All right “T gotta drive to the city today, How do you park a horse?” —Louistille Courier-Journ Extra for the Color—"L am an au thor and I desire to spend my vacation on your farm in order to get local color How much will the board be?” “Twenty per week, and ten extra if you expect us to go around chewing straws and talking dialect." —Boston Transcript. “For to Admire an‘ for to See’ Personal Preference—“Have yo given up the idea of subdividing the farm into town lots?” “For the present,”” answered Farmer Corntossel, “my boy Josh and I couldn’t quite agree. He didn’t see the sense of providing sites for any public motion picture the n Star. buildings aters.” except Washingt Interference r Mrs. Jounsos COMES INTO € BALL PLAYER Shakespeare in the Schools Jones gave her classes a test in which she asked them to name five of Shakespeare’s plays. Among the titles received were these: King Liar A Merchant of Venus. Old Fellow McBath. if et Which reminds us of the high-school pupil who said that Shakespeare’s most was “Venice an Ade id Plain-Dealer, famous noids.” poem Cleve “LT want some good Watt— Again? current literature,” are some books on electric ! 1D ampereing at them. Watt I want is light reading for Eddic’s sons until they anmature.”’— Electrica Ex perimenter. comicbooks.com