Chapter I: Front Matter

THE
Mysterious Stranger
AND
OTHER CARTOONS

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THE

Mysterious Stranger

AND

OTHER CARTOONS

BY

JOHN T. McCUTCHEON

_Author of
Cartoons, Bird Center Cartoons, Etc._

New York
McClure, Phillips & Co.
1905

_Copyright, 1905, by_
McCLURE, PHILLIPS & CO.
_Published, October, 1905_

_The Cartoons in this collection were originally published in “The Chicago Tribune” and the “Chicago Record-Herald” and are reprinted in this form by permission of the publishers._

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_INTRODUCTORY NOTE_

_These cartoons have been reprinted in the hope that they may have a permanent interest because of the great historical importance of the period they encompass. In the last two or three years the world has moved with more than its usual alacrity. It has been a history-making epoch. There has been a war that WAS a war. There have been disasters almost without parallel; and we have weathered as pleasant a presidential campaign as the oldest inhabitant can remember. Mr. Roosevelt has been insured to us for another four years and his activities in peace and in war and in sports have been a source of unending inspiration to the cartoonist. In addition, the nation has achieved merited glory because of the great exposition held in St. Louis, and last, but not least, Missouri has taken it into her head to go Republican._

_The importance of these affairs is our excuse for hoping that the cartoons appearing in this collection may have more than an ephemeral interest, and with respectful humility, we hereby dedicate them to that grand old man—sometimes so foolish but always so well-meaning—our Uncle Sam._

_JOHN T. MCCUTCHEON_

_October 18, 1905_

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THE

Mysterious Stranger

AND

OTHER CARTOONS

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THE PRESIDENTIAL HOLIDAY

HE ARRIVES IN “SAN ANTONE” TO ATTEND A REUNION OF THE ROUGH RIDERS.
]

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THE PRESIDENTIAL HOLIDAY

A QUIET DAY
]

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THE PRESIDENTIAL HOLIDAY

“_Hurry up, boys! I’ve got ’em treed._”
]

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THE PRESIDENTIAL HOLIDAY

“_I wish the boys’d get up. Here I’ve had breakfast ready an hour._”
]

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THE PRESIDENTIAL HOLIDAY

“_The President has been on the trail of a grizzly for four days._”
—NEWS ITEM.
]

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THE PRESIDENTIAL HOLIDAY

“_Come on, boys! I’ve got ’em cornered._”
]

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A BOY IN SPRINGTIME

“_Every time I think of her, I have the queerest feeling, kind o’ like
a painless stomach ache, only not so much. I wonder why?_”
]

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A BOY IN SPRINGTIME

“_No, honest, cross my heart, you’re the first girl I ever said it
to._”
]

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A BOY IN SPRINGTIME

“_For the land’s sake, child, what ails you, anyway. How many times
must I call you to come to your supper?_”
]

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A BOY IN SPRINGTIME

“_Some day she’ll be sorry she treated me this away. I’ll go ’way and
make lots o’ money and come back here riding in a carriage with four
white horses, and when she tries to ketch my eye I’ll pertend I
never seen her before._”
]

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COLONEL ROOSEVELT IN YOSEMITE VALLEY

“_That ought to be ‘El Colonel’ instead of ‘El Capitan.’ Oughtn’t
it?_”
]

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COLONEL ROOSEVELT IN THE GRAND CANYON

“_Magnificent! It looks like the tented field of a Titan Host! It’s
the most beautiful view I’ve ever seen—Not an office seeker in
sight!_”
]

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THE PRESIDENT: “I’M HAVING A DELIGHTFUL TIME HERE IN CHICAGO, BUT I MISS
MY DAILY EXERCISE”

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SECRETARY TAFT IN JAPAN

“_I remind myself of Napoleon before the Sphinx. I wonder if it can
tell me who will be the next President of the U.S.A.?_”
]

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SECRETARY TAFT IN JAPAN

“_No wonder the Japs make good soldiers. They’ve certainly solved the
transportation problem all right._”
]

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A BOY IN SUMMER-TIME

“_Just look how much I saved for the Fourth. Ma give me a dime ’n I
sold a copper boiler to Johnson Bros. for twelve cents. I got
sixteen cents for picking cherries for Mrs. Oliver, ’n a nickel for
carrying a note for Mr. Hornbeck, ’n fi’ cents I got for picking
potato bugs for Mrs. Oliver, ’n ten cents for finding Mr. Griswold’s
cow. And I’m gunna spend it all for shootin’ crackers and fire ’em
all off just for you._”
]

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A BOY IN SUMMER-TIME

“_I bet they’re jealous because they ain’t boys, too._”
]

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A BOY IN SUMMER-TIME

“_Gee! I wish the circus ’d hurry up and come. I’m terrible hungry.
We’ve been waiting nearly three hours and it’ll be sure to come if
we go home for breakfast._”
]

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A BOY IN SUMMER-TIME

“_Gee! I don’t see how anybody can be sad in summer-time, ’specially
if he’s a boy an’ likes to go swimmin’!_”
]

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A BOY IN SUMMER-TIME

“_You just step over that line and I’ll learn you that you can’t call
my little sister a cry-baby._”
]

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A BOY IN SUMMER-TIME

THE CHIEF OF THE INDIAN FIGHTERS—“_Don’t cry, they’re not real
Indians—they’re only cornstalks. We’re just pertending they’re
Indians. Come on, you’ll never make an Indian fighter if you act
this away._”
]

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A BOY IN SUMMER-TIME

“_You bet this is the last time I’m gunna visit Aunt Mary, not even if
she invites me._”
]

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A BOY IN SUMMER-TIME

“_Dog gone it! This kind o’ life ain’t the kind o’ life for me. I’m
gunna run away ’nd be a soldier, ’nd get killed, ’nd then you bet ma
’ll be sorry she treated me this away._”
]

“_It’s funny how much easier it is to work the ice-cream freezer than
it is to churn._”
]

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THE PRESIDENT HAS GIVEN A ＄100 CHECK TO A CHILD THAT WAS NAMED AFTER HIM

“_Here is a check for little Theodore._”
]

“_You’re wanted below, sir._”
“_This is no time to rout a man out. Tell him to wait._”
“_It isn’t a ‘him,’ sir; it’s a ‘them.’_”
]

“_Good morning, Mr. President._”
]

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UNCLE ALEXANDER THOUGHT HE HAD AN INVITATION TO THE WHITE HOUSE

“_I see by the newspaper that President Roosevelt likes to see large
families. Now, I take it, that’s an invitation to visit him, don’t
you?_”
]

SO UNCLE ALEXANDER AND HIS FAMILY, COUSIN SILAS AND HIS FAMILY AND THE
HIRED MAN AND HIS FAMILY WENT DOWN TO THE DEPOT AND GOT ON THE CARS
FOR WASHINGTON—
]

WHERE THE PRESIDENT SAID THAT HE WAS “DELIGHTED” TO SEE THEM.
]

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THE OSLEROPATHS

GEN. KUROKI, AGED OVER 60 DR. OSLER CHLOROFORM BRIGADE

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THE DEAR OLD FARM AND THE JOLLY CITY LIFE

WHAT THE FARMER SAYS:

WHAT THE CITY MAN SAYS:

“_Staid in bed till nearly 5 this morning because we don’t have to get
up so early in the winter time._”
]

“_Great guns! are all the windows open? It’s as cold as Greenland in
this flat. The man that called this a steam-heated flat was a poor
describer._”
]

“_Scraped the frost off the window so’s I could get a squint at the
weather. Looked purty winterish._”
]

“_Well, I hate to get up, but I suppose I must. Not an ounce of steam
in the place. And just listen to the crunch of those wheels out
there. I’ll bet it’s a hundred below zero._”
]

“_Boots froze stiff. Guess I forgot to grease ’em last night. They
slipped on about as easy as a section of stovepipe._”
]

“_Cook is sore. Says she isn’t used to living in an ice-house. I never
saw such haughtiness._”
]

“_Woodpile covered with snow so I had difficulty getting kitchen fire
started. Finally got enough hot water to thaw out pump._”
]

“_Have a horrible cold. That’s the trouble with these steam-heated
flats. About the time you get acclimated the furnace goes on a
strike._”
]

“_Carried in some fodder for the stock. Latch on barn door so dad
gasted cold it pulled the skin off my nigh hand. Curried horses,
etc._”
]

“_And you are left with your tubes filled with bronchitis microbes,
and your heart filled with homicidal tendencies. Natural gas low. No
hot breakfast._”
]

“_Then had nothing to do but wait for daylight and breakfast. Had hot
fried mush, hot ham, some good coffee, and a couple dozen buckwheat
cakes. Seemed to agree with me._”
]

“_Cable broke and had to stroll downtown. Got to office late and was
called down. Many are called down, but few deserve it._”
]

“_Shucked corn all morning. In afternoon repaired rail fence on the
east eighty till dark. Then took some nourishment in the shape of
boiled ham and cabbage._”
]

“_Boss says that it mustn’t happen again. I hope it won’t._”
]

“_Sat around awhile. Hated to tackle the cold sheets, but finally it
got so late that I had to turn in, though I couldn’t get to sleep
till after 10._”

“I WISH I LIVED IN TOWN WHERE I HAD SOME OF THE COMFORTS OF LIFE.”
]

“_This city life ain’t what it’s cracked up to be. How I envy the
farmer. He’s his own boss and doesn’t care how often the cable
breaks._”

“I WISH I LIVED OUT ON SOME PLEASANT FARM THESE FINE, CRISP WINTER
DAYS.”
]

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IT HAS BEEN SUGGESTED THAT SOCIETY ADOPT A TIME LIMIT MARRIAGE CONTRACT