Judge, 1922-02-11 · page 3 of 36
Judge — February 11, 1922 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Valentine (1922) This illustration by Louis Seybold depicts a young woman in fashionable 1920s attire holding a decorative Valentine's Day card. The accompanying poem contrasts old and new courtship customs. The satire critiques modern femininity: the text nostalgically describes how "fair maids" of the past possessed traditional "charms" and modest behavior, while avoiding jazz culture's "vulgar" influence. By contrast, the poem notes that contemporary girls are "fair and modest" too—but sarcastically questions whether they'll actually "dare" to embrace old-fashioned sentiment given their modern freedoms. The cartoon reflects 1920s anxieties about changing gender roles and the "flapper" generation: concerns that jazz-age women were abandoning traditional courtship rituals and Victorian modesty for contemporary social independence.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
% & William Dowelan He Frervary Drawn by Lovis Seveoty, WHEN this fair maid, with beat- i] ing heart, Her Valentine perused, The Lovers’ Saint, plus Cupid's dart, Sweet sentiment diffused VALENTINE Girls then were charms; Their contours were unknown; No jazz sent out its crass alarms For dances vulgar grown chary of their And yet our girls to-day are fair, And modest. Who will doubt? And if too far they seem to dare, The custom bears them out —jJ. A.W 1, 1922