Judge, 1934-04 · page 8 of 36
Judge — April 1934 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Judge Magazine Page Analysis This page contains three distinct pieces: **"The Jumps"** (top): A poem by Albert G. Miller mocking someone's anxious state—watching a "Mexican jumping bean" that repeatedly "springs" and crashes. The metaphor satirizes nervous fidgeting or anxiety, likely about some contemporary concern. **"I saw a robin today!"** (middle): A cartoon showing two black cats observing a robin, with deadpan commentary—a simple visual gag about cats' predatory interest. **"The Great Idea"** (right): A prose piece describing Jones's scheme to transmit secret wartime radio messages by having a soprano singer encode them into song lyrics, believing no one will decipher music-hidden content. The narrator questions the plan's security, but Jones confidently argues people won't suspect a soprano knows anything meaningful. The satire mocks overconfidence in a simplistic "clever" wartime scheme.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Judge The Jumps T MAKES me feel abashed and mean I To watch a Mexican jumping bean. It tries and tries for all it’s worth To leave this sordid sphere called Earth My m peers within the thing And sees the worm recoiled to spring: A cataclysmic lurch, and then It crashes back to earth Ah me—ah you—and ah us all— The, jumping bean’s so very small 'Twould give us no or little pain To lift it to a higher plane But there we stand with bated breat! And watch it jump itself to deat! —A tert G, Mitter. s ey gain “Pardon me, lady, but can you tell me how to get to the Sigma Chi House?” The Great Idea Jones for years. He of his spare time dre: I: AVE known tall, thin) man with of the things he would some d. nose and a chin that recec ut the other diy like a henpecked husband from an angry and told me something which [ believe fe. Until the other day [ never will mean big things for hi t Jones would amount to any s tho in this li can be accony came to me Jones. in whic He held an unim- big firm and spent most a code t This, of cour. at deal in war time ones’ plan is absurdly simple, ever I great ideas are simple. He ex- plained to me that, under his system the exact message you wish to transmit is written out on a piece of paper. At this point [ objected: “But hov are you going to keep anyone who has 1 radio set from knowing the contents of the me: Jones smiled knowingly. “That is the very essence of my plan,” he said Well?” T demanded “LT will mere sing the me phone.” “But—" [ interrupted, “But, nothing,” interjected Jones forcefully. “My scheme is 7 t. Tt is better than ‘ause there are men who can decipher any cod 3ut I've never yet met a man w What a soprano singer was about.” “ . So I really think that Jone Hey, where's the fire? on to bigger and better things. will mean have a soprano sin ge into the radio micre comicbooks.com