Judge, 1920-12-25 · page 7 of 33
Judge — December 25, 1920 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Judge Magazine Cartoon Analysis This appears to be a literary illustration accompanying a satirical story rather than a political cartoon. The image shows a funeral procession being disrupted when pallbearers discover the "coffin" actually contains valuable bottles of alcohol—scotch, wine, and other spirits with prestigious labels from Scotland, London, and Paris. The satire targets **Prohibition-era America**. The story mocks the legal ban on alcohol by depicting a mock funeral as a cover for celebrating contraband liquor. The subsequent dream sequence, where wine becomes a god figure ("I am the Eternal Vine") and a legal document burns in the fireplace, suggests commentary on Prohibition's futility and the persistence of drinking culture despite legal restrictions. The humor lies in the absurdity of using funeral rites to transport and celebrate illegal spirits—a transparent yet defiant circumvention of the law.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
by Jens Cosacunn “ Looxs vo Me Like \ mutiied groan came from the old cistern Uhen the young men shouldered the coffin, after the manner ‘ers, and, the shrouded figure in front, the procession returned to the house. Once more three knocks resounded on the great doors, and with great solemnity, the coftin, to the accompaniment of girlish shricks, and frightened faces. was borne through the hall and rat table, spake the deep voice, and a tense bush partly fear and partly curiosity, filled the hall. But some of the maturer guests drew closer, and as the lid was lifted these gave vent to a deep, awe-struck cry, which was fol lowed by volleys of laughter. Instead of the gruesome cadaver of the late lamented “J. B.” their eyes had fallen upon such joyous assemblage of flagons, demijohns, and glass bottles of every size, shape and label, as had not gladdened them for many along da: Some the more impressionable gave way to tears, and others, raising aloft one of the precious vessels, would point frantically at the label “Look at that la * they cried. Reverently they lifted up bottle after bottle, imprinted with legends that carried the mind to far-away Scotland, to warm old London, to the boulevards of Paris, with that strange wafted perfume of a certain bitter herb. A rince 0” GeNU-wine ono CHipreNnDace k eaten Daksepiiv re vos'r, Grorce!” “Why this is priceless!”” “Did you ever expect to sce this label again?” “Gold seal!” “Four star “Look! What do you think of this?” And, in the middle of it all, the fiddlers struck up wildly in the gallery, and the dancers ran into each other's arms and began to sweep the floor, and the dream began to fade in a whirl of music and happy laughter, But before it quite vanished, I seemed to see that shrouded figure grow taller, after the man ner of gods, until his head almost reached the rafters, and the shroud fell from him, and he stood there radiant with youth, with a wreath of vine-leaves in his hair; and his voice seemed to sing: “Iam the Eternal Vine, the roots of which encompass the earth, the clusters of which hang among the stars.’” And an other voice spake through my dream: “The god is still alive. He can never di He is forever one with Life and Youth and Love, one forever with the whiteness, and the redness and the gold of Kings.” And just as the curtain was falling between me and all that happy dream, I saw one pick up that dropped shroud, and it seemed to have changed into a great legal parchment covered with writing. [ caught sight of the words “ Be it enacted i And then, with a great acclaim, I saw it cast on to the roaring logs, and whirled away up the chimney with a million sparks