Judge, 1929-05-25 · page 16 of 36
Judge — May 25, 1929 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is satirical commentary on child discipline practices, attributed to "Dr. Seuss" (likely a pseudonymous contributor). The cartoons mock outdated and harsh parenting methods through absurdist exaggeration. The top illustration ridicules grabbing children by the neck, suggesting the "scientific" alternative is the scruff instead. The middle scene parodies parents debating ear-boxing versus ear-pinching, proposing "buffing" ears with buttonhole-shears as the "modern" approach. The bottom panel's lengthy caption satirizes ineffective punishment: the author swore as a boy despite soap-washing his mouth; the joke is that mothers now need *different* soaps for *each* curse word—an absurd extension of the same failed logic. The overall satire critiques how each generation believes its harsher discipline methods are more "scientific" or "modern," when the fundamental approach remains cruel and ineffective. The piece gently mocks both outdated and contemporary parenting philosophies through exaggerated pseudoscience.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE Punish Your Offsprings Scientifically! New Notes on Child Chastisement by Dr. Seuss rucsome situation above illustrates the most tless practice known to the modern fam- ily—the angry father having grabbed up his bey by the nape of the neck. He does not realize that young boys’ napes are easily wrenched out of shape. A scientific father always grabs up his son by the scruff. avert ™ ooo Seg RTAINGY i { WE Must On, y Mr. and Mrs. L. Pffeff are having that time- worn old argument—the boring of the ears vs. the enfing of the ears. In the eves of modern science, however, neither method is good. Au thorities now recommend buffing the cars, a milder form of punishinent easily administered with the aid of a pair of old buttonhole-shears, Forty or fifty years ago, when I was a boy, I swore like a trooper. Although my mother continually washed out my mouth with soap and water, today I swear worse than ever. Mother's mistake was in using only one kind of soa Modern mothers realize that every single curse word must be treated individually with a special brand of suds. comicbooks.com