Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, June 1921 · page 42 of 67
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #21 — page 42: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three poems, not cartoons. "The Poppy's Answer" responds to John McCrae's famous WWI poem "In Flanders Fields," giving voice to the poppies themselves as symbols of fallen soldiers' memory and peace. The two remaining pieces are bawdy humor typical of *Whiz Bang*, a magazine known for risqué content. "The Girl in the Garden" uses double entendre—the woman watering her garden becomes a spectacle for voyeuristic neighbors; the hose and "sprinkle" carry sexual implications. The final untitled verse is a cynical joke about romance and materialism: a woman accepts a man's advances, then leaves him once she obtains a fur coat—commenting on transactional relationships and female materialism. These reflect post-WWI attitudes: reverence for the fallen alongside irreverent humor about courtship and gender relations.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang 41 The Poppy's Answer Publication in the May issue of the Whiz Bang of “In Flanders Fields” has brought many requests for “The Poppy’s Answer,” and thus, by special permis- sion of the author, we offer it herein. By D. H. Winget In Flanders fields we poppies grow, That all the passing world may know We herald peace—surcease of pain, For those who fought now live again, Not in cold stone or mortal arts, But in the depth of loving hearts, We bloom afresh above our dead, Our blossoms deck our hero’s bed In Flanders fields. Our Father called us into bloom, To deck and shield each soldier’s tomb To bask and glint in glory’s stream, And fashion every soldier’s dream. As ’neath our roots he sweetly sleeps, Each poppy true her vigil keeps, And gently to the breeze she yields Her soothing breath In Flanders fields. * * * The Girl In the Garden She lifts her skirts from danger, With her left hand, while her right Grasps the nozzle, and the stranger Gets a very shocking sight. The neighbors gaze with rapture, And their interest daily grows, For they like to see her sprinkle, And they like to watch the hose. * * * His eyelids closed, his breath came fast, His eager lips met hers; They parted ere the week had passed— She had a set of furs.