Attending to His Calling

Attending to His Calling. Fun (25 April 1873): 174. Edward G. Dalziel, artist and probable engraver. Courtesy of the Suzy Covey Comic Book Collection in the George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida. Click on image to enlarge it

Customer: —“Ah, I see you’ve got a new boy, Mr. Green; he’s smarter than the last.”

Mr. Green: — “Yes’m, and he’s a fine shrill woice too, and knows ’ow to take care of it. Bless ye, whenever he feels it gettin’ out o’ toon, he goes and gits run in for a week or so for the change of air, an’ relaxashin!”

This cartoon, drawn in Edward Dalziel’s characteristic realistic style with heavy darks, plays close attention to details of both what people wore and the urban environment. It has further interest in the way the people it depicts take as normal the boy’s movement between work and jail and back again. — George P. Landow

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Last modified 28 February 2016