Life, 1923-10-25 · page 27 of 34
Life — October 25, 1923 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine features a cartoon and accompanying essay about a social type called "Boggs." **The Cartoon:** Shows two small dogs huddled in what appears to be a wicker basket or chair, set against a dark background. The caption quotes James Whitcomb Riley's famous poem line: "The Gobble-uns 'll git you ef you don't watch out"—a humorous, deliberately ominous warning. **The Satire:** The essay by Charles G. Shaw uses "Boggs" as a universal type—the contrarian acquaintance whose opinions are reliably wrong. The joke is that if Boggs recommends something, you should do the opposite. Shaw argues most people foolishly trust Boggs's judgment at face value, then blame him afterward for their disappointment. **The Connection:** The cartoon illustrates this dynamic humorously: the anxious dogs awaiting some unnamed threat (the "gobble-uns") parallels how people naively follow Boggs's advice, expecting disaster. The satire gently mocks our tendency to take advice from unreliable sources without critical thinking.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“THE GOBBLE-UNS ’LL GIT YOU EF YOU DON’T WATCH OUT.” Boggs ] YONDER if you know Boggs. Surely you must. mediately convinced that I should loathe it. In fact, I do thaps under some other name. At least, you’ve met precisely the opposite that Boggs would have me and, hin A most valuable acquaintance, Boggs; though it’s as yet, have never been disappointed. Our sentiments, e true, I’d hardly care for him as a friend. our humors, our likes and di: are exactly diver: is his point of view, his angle on life that really in- Every one has his Boggs somewhere, though we seldom sts me. If he emphatically says not to see a certain realize his worth. The mistake so many of us make in at I invariably go, and enjoy it immensely; if he sug- least one period of our lives is that we take Boggs for his s that I read a particular book, I make a definite point face value, do just what he tells us, and then curse him to; if he tells me that I should like a thing, I am im- for it afterward. Charles G. Shaw. comicbooks.com