Life, 1919-07-03 · page 17 of 52
Life — July 3, 1919 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This humorous domestic piece satirizes the demands of a newly acquired puppy. The article describes how a neighbor's gift transforms the household—barricades erected, window screens repurposed into a dog pen—forcing the family to accommodate the animal's rigid "rules." The top cartoon shows a picnic scene where someone offers a hard-boiled egg and coffee to a horse, humorously misinterpreting the animal's needs. The bottom photograph depicts a gaunt horse standing over a prone figure, captioned "DRY!"—the punchline being the contrast between the offered refreshments and the horse's actual state. The satire targets the absurdity of guests (animal or human) who impose impossible demands and refuse to be satisfied. The "right guest" is one who adapts to circumstances, while the "wrong guest"—like this demanding puppy or ungrateful horse—creates chaos through inflexible requirements. It's gentle domestic humor about unwelcome houseguests.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Right Guest URING our enforced absence from the other day a neighbor presented youngest child with a puppy, home our and our youngest child, not having had any worldly ex- perience and not being of a worrying cepted the lively gift. When we arrived home we temperament, discovered that the household had been completely transformed had been erected in the upper hall, and in the back yard certain screens, which even in the past days of peace had cost good money, had heen hastily improvised into a canine lounging place. This puppy had just been taken away from his mother, but, with extraordi- Barricades window nary versatility in one so youn peared to be perfectly willing to anybody for a substitute, so long as that individual conformed to certain rules which the puppy had succeeded in evolving. These rules were not ex- tensive, but exceedingly comprehensive. “poor OLD HORSE! IT LOOKS HUNGRY keG The first consisted in the time-honored maxim, that the one assigned to the post of duty should stick there to the UM GOING TO CIV AND A CUP OF COFFEE” hitter end. bed provided any The second rule was that A WARD: was good enough there were covers BOILED for him, enough comicbooks.com