Life, 1919-09-25 · page 12 of 40
Life — September 25, 1919 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This illustration accompanies a humorous story about a dog named Stocky. The cartoon depicts a man in formal attire viewing what appears to be a portrait or mirror image of himself in an ornate frame. The caption "HERO WORSHIP" suggests ironic commentary on self-admiration or vanity. The accompanying text describes Stocky's misadventures—escaping a farmer, causing chaos in town, and being rescued by the Fire Department. The story culminates when the dog's owner casually remarks he'll eventually train Stocky to demonstrate his true capabilities, revealing the owner's overconfidence in his own abilities to control the unruly dog. The illustration likely satirizes this same self-deluding vanity, showing a man admiring an idealized version of himself while remaining oblivious to reality—much like Stocky's owner's misplaced confidence.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
538 The next house we stopped at was a farmhouse where they displayed vege- tables in the front yard. Browsing peacefully in the sun at the side was a family of Persian cats—father and mother and a number of _ kittens. While the lady aud myself were engaged in looking over the line of green corn, Stocky, breaking loos easily and rising gracefully in the air, described a silent parabolic curve and landed on the outer edge of the peace- ful family circle. His favorite method heretofore had been to grab cats by the back of the neck and shake them to death. But this time he miscaleu- lated. Both father and mother cat anticipated him by pouncing on his back, and he fled to the barn, followed hy a farmer with a rake. Stocky \ located and brought back. We went on to the village, and stopped in front of the drug store. Stocky had been somewhat clawed up by this time, and his mezzanine floor looked bare in spots. Peace was writ- ten all over him. No more entan- gling alliances” appeared to he his watchword. He lay flat at the bottom of the car, dead to the world, with closed eye: All he needed was a white sheet A few moments later, as we tran- quilly absorbed our nut sundaes, there floated in a preliminary sound, suc- ceeded by others in rapid succession and in a rising crescendo, In the middle of the street, as we rushed out, we saw a whirring mass, consisting of Stocky and some other dog, making about fifteen hundred revolutions to the minute. Eventually, with the aid of a leading member of the Fire Department and a convenient hose, we got out what was left of Stocky and reassembled him in the car once more. The man from the Fire Department remarked : “That dog of yours seems to think he can do anything he d n pleases around here. We took Stocky back to our friend and told him what had happened. He listened casually. “Yes,” he said. “I know; I know. That dog hasn't been up to the mark lately. Some day, when he is in con- dition, I'll go with you and take him along and show you what he really can do." TOL. M. HERO WoRSHIE comicbooks.conim