Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, December 1924 · page 9 of 71
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #67 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct sections: **Top Section**: A philosophical essay on Hope, presented as inspirational verse. It's sentimental rather than satirical—celebrating Hope's power to unite young and old, combat despair, and inspire ambition. This reflects early 20th-century optimistic rhetoric about perseverance. **Bottom Section**: A humorous anecdote about "Deacon Miller," a farmer who sells potatoes at a Minneapolis cooperative. The joke: he buys new clothes to surprise his wife, hides them in his buggy, strips off his old clothes at a river, then discovers the new outfit is gone (likely stolen). His resigned final comment—"we'll surprise her anyhow" (arriving home naked or nearly so)—is the punchline. The humor targets rural/farm life stereotypes and the ironic misfortune of a well-intentioned plan. The "Deacon" title suggests a religious man, adding mild irony to his predicament. This appears to be gentle, family-friendly comedic content typical of early satirical agricultural magazines.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
[Farmyard Fun and Philosophy] arm with hope we meet in the merry festival of childhood and forget that we are growing old. Hope sounds the key for the chorus of song and springs the mine that bursts with laughter. Old and young are in the game. Hope leads the charge of light in the battle against gloom and rifts the dawn with the sun blazing in the east forever. It makes the eye of youth glisten like a star and floods the fading vision of age with nursery scenes. It takes youth by the hand and tempts him with the prospects of noble ambi- tion. It touches the wrinkled lid of time and charms us with eternal sight. There is no such thing as failure in nature. There is no friction in the sky. Hope fashions the earth into a theatre of harmony and the holiday season is here again. WE just heard of a good story about Deacon Miller. Seems that last August he took a wagon load of potatoes to the Co- operative Exchange in Minneapolis and sold it. Thought he, “I will surprise my wife.” So he bought a suit of clothes, a hat, and a pair of shoes, and put them under the back seat. On the way home he stopped at the river, took off all his old clothes and threw them in. Then he looked under the seat for his new outfit. It was gone! Finally he got in the buggy and said, “Giddap, Maude, we’ll surprise her anyhow.” [7]