The Naps of Polly Sleepyhead

This Sunday strip follows a young girl's misadventures during her afternoon nap, as fantastical dreams intrude upon domestic reality. Each panel depicts Polly's sleeping form visited by increasingly surreal figures—animals, dressed characters, and impossible visions—drawn in the decorative Art Nouveau style typical of early 1900s newspaper comics. The strip demonstrates the visual conventions rapidly standardized in this era: sequential panels advancing a narrative, speech balloons carrying dialogue, recurring characters, and exaggerated expressions conveying emotion. The technique of depicting dream sequences through visual rupture—contrasting the realistic bedroom setting with grotesque or whimsical intruders—became a staple device in early comic strips, influencing decades of newspaper humor.