Puck, 1879-10-15 · page 5 of 18
Puck — October 15, 1879 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical comic strip mocks an American businessman's attempt to adapt himself to Parisian advertising standards. The eight-panel sequence shows Mr. Cahose progressively contorting and twisting his body around an advertising pillar—stretching his neck, bending his torso, and eventually wrapping himself serpent-like around the structure. The humor targets American commercial ingenuity and adaptability, suggesting that enterprising Americans will literally reshape themselves to meet foreign market demands. The repeated phrase about fighting "foreign humbuggery" satirizes both American business ambition and perhaps anti-European sentiment. The comic suggests the absurd lengths capitalism will push individuals to pursue profit and international commercial success.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
{ PUCK. 505 THE CURIOUS ADVENTURE OF MR. ADOLPHUS W. CAHOSE, SHOWING THE ADAPTABILITY OF THE INVENTIVE AMERICAN NATURE TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF A PARISIAN ADVERTISING, PILLAR. Apotrnus W. Canose | Adolphus W. possessed He stretched his neck a little bit And when he found ‘twas not Thought foreign travel would en-| A neck that could both stretch} To see about that blessed train. enough hance and curve. For he was bound to settle it, He quite exasperated grew; His charms of mind, and sohe chose You see, he had a hollow chest ‘To go to Frankfort-on-the- | And with a word profane and To go and visit Paris, France. {| To stow his vertebral reserve. Main, rough Where first he placed his rather |So he began to stretch that verte- | A/ine is the true Teutonic appel- | _ He twisted round his body, too. ill-ar- Bral reserve to see if his train went|Lation, ‘That’s a tongue with which | Just as you see—no easy oper- Ticulated form before an advertis- at two-thirty, to grapple! | Ation, you may bet your bottom copper. ing pillar, And as the line still further ran, And so he doubled twice around, Thereon he did untwine, just as Adolphus W. Cahose He put his head still further down. | Until he said: “Aha, I see!” Completely as he ever will. Is twisted now; but very proud. And said: “A true American He the two-thirty train had found: |The serpentine contour he has His country’s haughty head, heknows * Is not appalled in any town. ‘| Tt left at seven forty-three, Came not from a malarial Shan’t in humility be bowed. I'll put to scorn their foreign flum- | He also said: ‘This is an orner- chill. For he has shown a Yankee will ar- mer- Y nation that puts an important | He says so; but ‘twas not malari- | Range himself in spirals, if neces- Y if I have ‘to fight it out on this train like that down in the | A. It arose entirely from his being sary to get ahead of aFrench line all summer.” lower right-hand corner.” so superfluously airy. advertising pillar. comicbooks.com