Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #29 — page 37: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains no cartoon—it's a poetry section from *Whiz Bang* magazine titled "Smokehouse Poetry." "The Blanket Stiff" by Gifford and Whitney is a first-person narrative poem about a hobo or vagrant traveling westward. The speaker describes physical exhaustion, hunger, and emotional decline during a difficult journey counting railroad ties to pass time. The colloquial language ("gittin' dim," "Gawdl," "gettin'-old") captures the voice of a working-class wanderer. The poem likely reflects post-WWI America's economic hardship, when unemployed workers—including veterans—rode the rails seeking work. It's sentimental social commentary dressed as humor, typical of *Whiz Bang's* mix of satire and pathos aimed at working-class readers.