Judge, 1927-07-02 · page 10 of 36
Judge — July 2, 1927 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Considerate Husband" This satirical piece mocks the era's gender dynamics. A husband announces he will deliberately create chaos—leaving dishes unwashed, scattering clothes, breaking items—while his wife is away, justifying it as an act of love. His logic: she expects him to be incompetent ("just a great big overgrown boy"), so disappointing her by keeping the apartment clean would rob her of the pleasure of discovering disaster and feeling needed. The satire targets both the husband's laziness masquerading as consideration and the "American Housewife's Credo" that infantilizes men, assuming they're incapable of basic household management. It's commentary on domestic gender roles and expectations of the early 20th century, where women's household authority and men's domestic incompetence were treated as natural law rather than cultural construct.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE be ruthlessly hurled to all corners of the apartment. I shall flick ' ashes over the rug and sweep the dust under the piano. I shall break at least five or six dishes and shall stain two or three of her lovely summer furniture covers. | Grimly, ruthlessly and methodi- | / cally [ shall proceed with my in- | spired work of household litter- e ing— A For I love my wife! % ! I love her too much to dis- appoint her when she comes home. It would be simple for me to keep the place spic and span—there's nothing to it in a four-room apart- } ment. But I shall not take from her the pleasure of holding up her hands in delicious horror when she contemplates her home. I 1 not violate Article 1 in the American Housewife’s Credo: That her husband is just a great big overgrown boy, in- capable of keeping his home in degree of order during his absence. No, sir, I love her too much to take that little pleasure from her! —Arruvur L, Lippmann The Maid of Yesteryear Visitor (to artist)—I'd like to get you to make a portrait of a lady, > NOS LEED Well, T might be able to do that—if you have some well Her wave-length. rved photographs of the de- | The Considerate Husband My wife is going to the country LILLE _ next week and I shall have the d / ae stewardship of our four-room / apartment until she returns. Her departure is marked. usual, by a wave of wifely anxiety. She is ZS - convinced that my personal well- oe being and the well-being of our = —~ : oe home will suffer during the sum- mer. Already she can visualize the chaos, the devastation, the topsy-turvy disorder that will meet her horrified gaze the day after Labor Day when she gets back. Therefore I shall use the dining- room table as a depository for coats and hats. I shall scorn to h a dish or x a bed until she returns. Socks, handker- Inquisitive Aviatorn—How do you like the Arctic? fs, neckties and collars shall Inuavirant—It leaves me cold. Sketcues From A Sanirantum— comicbooks.com