Puck, 1877-08-01 · page 11 of 16
Puck — August 1, 1877 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a sequential comic strip satirizing German immigrant anxieties in America. The narrative follows a household's paranoid discovery of a dog under the bed: 1. A dog hides under a bed to eat sausage 2. Herr Hosenträger grows suspicious 3. Frau H. imagines hydrophobia 4. They summon a dog catcher 5-10. The household panics with increasingly absurd reactions ("Herrr" screams, a "Pennsylvania regiment" mobilizes), until the dog catcher arrives and simply retrieves the dog for a quiet drink The satire mocks German-American immigrants' overreaction to minor incidents and their tendency toward dramatic, militaristic responses. The "Pennsylvania regiment" reference suggests exaggerated civic mobilization. The humor derives from the mundane reality versus the hysteria it generates.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
FALSE ALARM. 2. Herr Hosentrager s that dog disappear under the bed, and thinks it’s suspicious. 8. “ Brrrr—Bow — Wow." Everybody re- treats like a Pennsylvania regiment. PUCK. 3. Frau H. has observed a strange look in 4. A canine M. D. is sent for. “If he would that dog’s eyes of late. ‘Terrible thoughts of only come out from under the bed.’ hydrophobia rush through her brain. 6. John, the grocer, says he'll be blamed 7. The dog-catcher approaches with meas- first before he'll creep under that bed to ured tread and slow. tackle a mad dog. “Send for adog- catcher.” 9. Carlo, breathing the air of liberty once 10. And takes a quiet drink. Arrival of re- again, comes forth with a smile on his face. inforcements, Tableau. comicbooks.com