Judge — May 1937 — page 16: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

"You two ought to have a lot to talk about—both havin’ husbands in the can.” MONKEY ISLAND [ae it amusing and instructive And a little disconcerting To watch monkeys. They are like human beings only more so Because they have tails And less veneer. All one afternoon I stood in the rain Looking at Monkey Island Which is a man-made rock Inhabited exclusively by monkeys And surrounded by a moat Which permits monkeys and men to re- gard each other Without loss of prestige. HE base of the rock was cluttered with bananas and peanuts And 400 monkeys Each of whom was doing his very best To secure a just and equitable distribu. tion Of the peanuts and bananas— But without notable success Because of the great diversity of op- inion As to what was equitable and just. There *ppesced to be two leaders to each follower So I came to suspect that monkeys have problems Similar to those of men. 14 Every minute or so two or three of them Or sometimes as many as a dozen Withdrew from the wriggling pack to talk things over And formulate a plan or discover a panacea To save Monkey Island Which was so obviously headed for the dogs That anyone could see it would be far better . Even to put gasoline in the fire hose Than to do nothing at all. Already Monkey Island had the substantial equiv- alent Of W.P.A., unbalanced budgets, eco. nomic royalists And sit-down strikes. It was easy to tell from the frantically waving tails And the worried furry faces That each citizen felt it was high time To forget property values And to stress monkey values In the interest of his more abundant life BEGAN to feel sorry for these monkeys Who seemed to have so many of our burdens Without such compensating benefits As social security, electric washers And the finer delights of love When suddenly I observed that two of them (It_will promote clarity to call them Esther and Edward) Had quietly slipped away from the squirming conte And were holding hands like two high. school students. Their furry faces betrayed no concern For the crisis that confronted Monkey Island. Their interest in peanuts and bananas was completely subordinated To their interest in each other As they talked in the immemorial fash. ion of lovers. qT was low of me to eavesdrop, and I knew it Though I sought to excuse myself by mumbling piously That all the world loves a lover; But anyway, Edward was saying “I never knew anyone like you. You're so different— I can’t explain why, but you are.” And Esther gravely confided, “Isn't it funny? I was just thinking the same thing about you. Even the way you have of holding your tail Is unusual and distinguished.” Then Edward suggested, “Let's get away from these others Where we can talk things over.” So hand in hand With gracefully synchronized leaps they went higher and higher From jut to jut of the steep synthetic rock Until they came to a ledge where God and I Were the only ones who could see them. HEY were far away from me now, but still I could hear Edward explaining to Esther How her charm for him was more than merely physical And lay as well in her great gift for comradeship And her beautiful soul. I could hear Esther agreeing That this was the only sound basis for a union— And then They hugged each other tight in their hairy arms And exchanged kisses With all the finesse and ferver of Gable and Harlow After which they resumed holding hands And gazed happily into each other's eyes. But I was both happy and sad, because I knew But for the grace of God Edward might have been I, standing and watching Through the gray rain, from the man. ward side of the moat. —JoHN FRENCH WILSON. Judge comicbooks.com