Judge, 1921-11-12 · page 10 of 36
Judge — November 12, 1921 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Political-Cartoon & Comics Analysis This Judge magazine page contains three satirical items: **"Not in a Fight"**: A racist dialect joke about Charley, a Black office janitor with a black eye. The humor relies on crude stereotypes and minstrelsy conventions—the punchline plays on the distinction between "fighting" and domestic violence from his wife, with phonetic dialect spelling ("Mah wife," "sah," "da't") meant to demean. **"Peter's Pence"**: A brief religious joke. "Peter's Pence" refers to papal donations; the humor suggests a borrowed bill is "Catholic" because it "keeps Lent"—a reference to Catholic fasting practices, implying the money won't be spent/used during Lent. **"Chestnut Stuffing"**: An advertisement disguised as editorial content, promoting chestnuts for Thanksgiving turkey stuffing. The term "chestnut" also means an old, tired joke—creating meta-humor by calling old jokes "chestnuts" while advertising actual chestnuts. The large cartoon at bottom ("Noah Hands Out a Few Good Ones") appears to illustrate these jokes with fantastical animal characters, though its specific reference remains unclear without additional context.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Not in a Fight HARLEY is a mild-mannered, inoffensive darky, the janitor of an office building, quiet, efficient. One morning Charley reported for duty with a large piece of court plaster decorating the immediate vicinity of his right eye. There was no vanity attendant on its application. The size and shape of the adornment proved, be- yond doubt, that it was there for a more practical reason. “Been in a fight, Charley?” some one inquired. “No, sah.” “Where'd you get the gin?” in a confidential whisper. “Ain’t had no gin, sah.” “How come, then?” Charley grinned. troubles were no secret. This His marital “Mah wife kinda raised a li’l’ rumpus. Tha’s all, sah.” “Thought you said you hadn’t been fighting.” “No, sah, da’t right. back.” I jes’ looked Peter’s Pence Jack—-What was the denomination of the bill you loaned me? Jim—Catholic, I guess. rate, it keeps Lent very well. At any Chestnut Stuffing I N this glad season, when plans for Thanksgiving are heard on every hand and the busy hum of dinner pre- parations deadens the sibilant hiss from thou- sands of grin d- stones, we are proud indeed to feel that L$» we too f have our R small part eK R ieee to play ; Y ‘We in these Ve \ j = merry fes- : iN tivities For whc has ever felt truly thankful without turkey and stuffing? And of all the stuffings there are, surely the turkey stuffed with chest- nuts is finer, flavored more deli- ciously and of a savor superior to all contenders. Turkey stuffed with chestnuts! What could be more de- lightful! Particularly if the chest- nuts be of that ancient variety that we alone can supply. While others are thoughtlessly using their chestnuts through the long months, printing them with pictures and without pic- tures, serving them up hot all summer and cold all winter, we alone can be relied upon to con- serve a goodly mess of the oldest and most venerable chestnuts for the happy Thanks- giving Season. Tur- key stuffed with chest- nuts! Truly, reading maketh a full man! NOAH HANDS OUT A FEW GOOD ONES 8