Judge, 1925-04-25 · page 28 of 36
Judge — April 25, 1925 — page 28: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a two-panel humor cartoon satirizing working-class masculine pride and absurd logic. The top panel shows a man refusing to enter a house despite his wife's demands. The bottom panel reveals the joke: two men are fighting because one insulted the other's wife—except the insulted man (Alf) is a bachelor with no wife. A bystander explains Alf fought anyway because "the principle" mattered more than facts. The satire mocks the illogical honor culture among working-class men, where defending abstract principles of respect trumps rational assessment of actual circumstances. The crude dialect and rough clothing reinforce stereotypes about laboring-class masculinity as governed by emotion and pride rather than reason.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Wire—Henry! Come right in this house immediately! “Not by dang shight! Not in ‘at housh!” Bystanper—They're fightin’ ‘cause Bill said Alf’s wife wuz cockeyed. “But Alf's a bachelor, ain’t he?” “Yeh, but the principle is wot made Alf wild.” comicbooks.com