Judge, 1930-12-20 · page 12 of 36
Judge — December 20, 1930 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Pity the Poor Traveling Salesman" This is a humorous commentary on the traveling salesman's peculiar Christmas situation by Hugh Wood. The four-panel cartoon shows a salesman examining his reflection in a mirror marked "Eyes Examined Free," then interacting with an optometrist or eye doctor, followed by two panels depicting his exaggerated physical distortions—likely representing dizziness or disorientation. The accompanying text ironically contrasts the salesman's lonely, vice-filled Christmas away from home (poker games, whiskey, late-night meals) with the domestic misery he'd face if present (disapproving relatives, unpaid debts). The satire's "pity" is tongue-in-cheek: the salesman actually escapes Christmas obligations and family friction, living in comparative luxury—suggesting his exile from home is secretly preferable. The joke targets both traveling salesmen (a common figure in early-20th-century commerce) and the hypocrisy of forced holiday sentimentality.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE ° F2Psoxn 1 Cimietatas on the road! Pity the poor traveling salesman, hundreds of miles from his own hearth, See him on Christ- in a stud poker game in of trimming the Christmas tree. See he contents of a tall glass wherein tinkle little cubes of ice. See him instead of stoking the n consuming a midnight rarebit with four other miserable and lone- some companions, exiles of trade, ve sitting castaways of commerce. . Christmas morning comes. In- : . stead of rising at dawn to tend 3 a the furnace, instead of shivering os eo through a frigid house in bath- be and slippers, he sleeps Nn ral Pr , I => ae soundly and sweetly until ten or ROBERT VOYCE eleven in the morning. Then his Pity the Poor Traveling Salesman By Hugh Wood breakfast is served in bed and he reads the morning papers in luxurious ease. At home they are having Christinss dinner. His aunt from Portland is there the aunt who disapproved of his mar- riage. His cousin from Keokuk is there -the one who has owed him five hundred dollars for five years. But the poor traveling salesman. He and three or four “of the boys main dining-room, at the expense ctive firms, French ch A soft string ore! behind the palms. After din . take ina musical show, and after supper they settle down for a little game of pinochle. Wh life!) What a dull, drab, dis- way to spend Christmas! comicbooks.com