Judge, 1922-03-04 · page 16 of 38
Judge — March 4, 1922 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a narrative illustration accompanying a short story about two sailors—a skipper (captain) and his mate Slim Jenkins—playing checkers aboard the ship *Hiram Snodgrass* while sailing near the Banks. The story uses nautical metaphors to describe their game: Slim has maneuvered into a winning position, "getting the weather berth" and "blanketing" the skipper, trapping him like a ship forced onto rocks in shallow water. The illustration depicts the scene in the ship's fo'c's'l (forecastle), showing the two men at their game with a lantern illuminating the cramped space. The humor lies in the double meaning—the checkers match is described entirely in sailing terminology, making the mundane board game sound like a dramatic maritime battle. This wordplay exemplifies the witty, working-class maritime humor Judge's readers enjoyed.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“— HE old Hiram Snodgrass was blue-nosin’ along home from the Banks before a breeze o' wind sou’ east, an’ down in the fo’c’s’l the skip- per an’ Slim Jenkins—he was the mate —was a-playing checkers. Each on ’em had beat four games, an’ was hav- “Your move, Skipper,” says Slim. SLIM CHANCES By Henry G. Peck Illustrated by the Author in’ it nip ’n’ tuck on the decidin’ one. “Twas a reg’lar luffin’ match fust off, but fin’lly Slim manoovered ‘round 12 ‘n’ got the weather berth, ’n’ blanketed the old man. Kinder got him into stays in shoal water, an’ a-driftin’ down on the rocks. “‘Your move, Skipper,’ says Slim, with one o’ them chessy grins 0’ his’n, an’ you could almost hear him ac-