Judge, 1927-04-23 · page 7 of 36
Judge — April 23, 1927 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Judge Magazine Page This page contains a nostalgic poem titled "The Lamp-Posts" lamenting the disappearance of gas street lamps—once friendly fixtures that "used to weave in and out along the sidewalks" and would "come over and embrace you." The author recalls their human-like qualities and the joy they brought. The accompanying cartoons illustrate this loss: one shows an old-fashioned carriage scene under streetlamp illumination; another depicts a modern industrial/mechanical setup, contrasting past warmth with present coldness. The final dialogue between "Auntie Saloon" and "Uncle Sammie" appears unrelated—a domestic joke about stealing jam. **Context**: This satirizes early 20th-century urbanization and mechanization, using the lamp-post as a metaphor for lost community warmth displaced by industrial progress.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Lamp-Posts (An ode to be sung to sloe music and dry sobs) Every night upon the highway, lo, the stately lamp-posts stand, Dignified, with lights uplifted, in an attitude that’s grand, But my heart is filled with sorrow as I watch their burners glow, For they used to be more friendly in the nights of long ago. There were times that I remem- ber when the lamp-posts used to weave In and out along the ewalks in a way you'd scarce believe; There were times—I recollect it —when they’d wink a shining eye And come over and embrace you as you were a-passing by. If your feet, mayhap, got tangled with a bit of paving stone— Why, a lamp-post, in those sea- | sons, would come out and see you home, | And—to show their human nature ] —if you spoke a trifle high, Or a lamp-post didn’t like you, it would bung you in the eye. Ah, those dear departed evenings when the lamp-posts used to fling Up and down the empty side- aieet walks, doing of a buck and nore | wing! And those happy early mornings —h, it was a love ig For to see the lamp-posts waltz- ing’ with the shadows of the night. h . “But when it comes to Slaughter, ight i : ” You'll do your work on water. | Now they stand in rigid splendor, | stern with n ty and awe, | Stern and stately and unbending | —by the passage of a law! | And my heart is filled with sor- row and its cockles go un- warmed, For the joy has gone from living since the lamp-posts have re- formed. —R.V.S. SS Auntie Saloon—That child of ours has been stealing jam again. What shall we do to him? Uncle Sammie—I'll fix him. I'll mix poison with the jam, and ] Very effective jag handed out on near-beer, at barroom oper- the next time he steals it will be ] ated on the see-saw motion plan. his last. comicbooks.com