Life, 1911-04-20 · page 19 of 52
Life — April 20, 1911 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine contains a humorous narrative about a mischievous dog named Scraps, illustrated with sketches. The story is autobiographical in tone, describing the dog's journey from a "select colored family" to the narrator's household. The humor derives from the dog's relentless destructiveness presented as earnest industriousness: he investigates garbage, chews household items (tea gowns, slippers), steals belongings, and destroys the garden—all framed as dutiful behavior. The satire mocks both the dog's "manifest duty" to cause chaos and the family's resigned acceptance. The secondary cartoon shows two boys, one with a black eye, explaining he "had t' fight fer it"—a comment on childhood roughhousing. The text's reference to "old Jewish law" and Sabbath observance suggests the original family's religious practices, adding cultural specificity to the narrative.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
-LIFE- 783 with some of the equipment, to the edification of the neigh- bors, they flung prejudices to the wind and raced after him as one man, around the yard. Even under the old Jewish law, works of necessity were permitted on the Sabbath, The only caller not afraid of him was a big black cat, who chased him around the premises whenever she got a chance. All others gave him a wide berth. He had sampled the trouser legs of most of the delivery men, but liked the post- man's best. Anyway, he came oftenest and was afraid of dogs, so Scraps had fun with him as his lawful prey. Indefatigable industry and strict attention to business are sure to win their reward, and, as the man of the family re- marked, for concentrat:d cussedness and as a prodigious nuisance, our dog ranked high. However, where every dog has his day he invariably put in two, and after a time this strenuous life proved too much for him. He left us to return no more. For his epitaph the family chose “Rest in Peace,” hoping they and their pocket- book might get a chance to do the same. They needed it. Cc. 0. L. M** a great man has started wrong. The Pup: 1 ONLY WANTED TO PLAY WITH HER DARNED OLD CHICKENS. I'M ALWAYS MISUNDERSTOOD Scraps H® was a small white dog, of the fox-terrier type, with a brown spot over his right cye that gave him an air of pious and ingenuous modesty quite at variance with his true character. Of poor and possibly honest parents, careful tracing of his pedigree showed an ancestry of pure cur for many gen- erations. He began life with a select colored family, whose standard of equality and fraternity met with his approval, but whose menus did not. Of a modestly ambitious nature, he felt it his duty to grasp the first opportunity for better- ment. : And so he came to us. We called him Scraps, from his proclivities for investi- gating garbage pails and his appreciation of the remnants of former feasts. A believer in the benefits of exercise and the danger of stagnation, he felt it his manifest duty to keep the family on the jump, and succeeded finely most of the time. He made the most of his office and continued strictly on the job. He appreciated his home and stayed there, barking disap- proval when any one went away, until we could not hear our- selves think. In the house he chewed tea gowns and sharpened his teeth on best slippers, even those with the feet in them. On clear days, with great thoughtfulness, he carried the family’s rub- bers downstairs and outside to give them an airing, ditto tooth brushes, towels, rugs and miscellaneous bits of wear- ing apparel—anything he could ‘steal. Disapproving of idleness, he worked hard in the garden, too. He dug up the crocus and dahlia bulbs and broke off sia TRRWARD the only yellow rosebush and chewed up the stem. The family had views about Sabbath observance, but when “WHO GAVE YE TH’ BLACK Eye, Jim?” he sneaked into the bicycle house one Sunday and ran off “Nonopy GIVE IT T’ ME. 1 MAD T’ FIGHT FER 17.” comicbooks.com