Enjoy Your Cloven Hoof

November 11, 1966

Toast the bread first and then slap on whatever you making a sandwich with. And that burning smell of peanut butter and/or jelly won't come out--at least not for a very long time.

I guess Wilberforce is not concerned with the giant plume of black smoke coming out of the toaster. Mneh, it's not his toaster.

We should all shed a tear for Brutus. I'm not doubting that the right person couldn't make boiled pig's feet with mint jelly a delicious entree but Gladys is absolutely not that person.

By the way, if any of you have seen Wilberforce Thornapple, please contact GoComics. Wilberforce has not been seen since September 12. This is the last known appearance of Wilberforce from that date.

Our Leadership Is Fine, Says the Leader

November 10, 1966

It wasn't until I was older that I realized that there were a lot of episodes about furniture on the TV series I Love Lucy. About once a season, Lucy wanted new furniture because her old furniture was stale. Furniture was always expensive despite getting an entire room of furniture for only $500. I hope that's not the case here as $490 down from $500 is not a great deal.

Art signed his name in two panels.

What's Brutus getting at here? Veeblefester is the only one in control. There's no board, there's no other "chief whatever officer", Veeblefester is all alone at the top. It's a really bold (is "bold" the right word) move to just upfront ask the person in charge "May I do a coup?"

Evening Alone

June 28, 1987

I find the man yammering about authorizing the invasion of Normandy 43 years after the fact less crazy than Brutus and Veeblefester jogging together. I can understand eating lunch and/or dinner together. I can understand playing golf together. Jogging I don't get. You're in those stupid suits and sweating. I don't want to see my boss like that, nor do I think my boss wants to see me like that.

Has Wilberforce been on this school field trip for two weeks? How many schools do overnight field trips anymore? I'm sure the ones that do have a very specific demographic.

Casablanca? There aren't any recent movies with romance and suspense? There has to be at least one. Oh, well, might as well put on a movie you've seen numerous times since you are just going to fall asleep anyway.

I've updated research on Yda Hillis Addis who was originally featured back in 2009. If you would like to support me or this website, you can click Support at the top of the page.

True Love

November 9, 1966

"It was my wife's birthday. After we ate the special birthday dinner, I offered to do the dishes and invited my wife to curl up in front of the TV and just enjoy herself. To my surprise, she actually did it. I was working my fingers to the bone while she watched The Red Skelton Show and The Virginian. I just went upstairs to bed. Does anyone else think she should've offered to help me do the dishes after I offered to do them? AITA?"

This is actually some decent commentary for in the '60s. "How dare she do what I say and take some time for her!"

And in today's comic, we get a good mid-century phrase. You don't hear "crashing bore" in everyday use, do ya?

Yda Hillis Addis

Yda Hillis Addis was born in 1857 to Sarah Hillis Short and Alfred Shea Addis in Leavenworth, Kansas. Her father was a tailor who originally began his business in Lawrence. Alfred was proslavery and served on the territorial legislature. Alfred met Thomas Short and not only moved to Leavenworth and joined Short's photography business, he also married his daughter, Sarah. Alfred and Sarah would have two children, Yda and Charles. In 1866, Alfred abandoned Sarah and his family, marrying another woman and have twin boys and a daughter, before returning in 1868 and remarrying Sarah.

The family then moved to Chihuahua, Mexico and, for reasons unknown, went to Los Angeles, California in 1873. Alfred opened another photography business and traveled California getting pictures to sell in his shop. The first mention of Yda was in the Los Angeles Express of January 31, 1874 where her poem "Transformed" was published. She was 15 at the time.

I had a friend; and ere I left his side,

He gave a pearly casket, fair to see;

And said: “From worldly eyes its contents hide,

And they shall be an endless joy to thee,”

“But never lift its beauteous, glitt’ring lid,

To lay within it any foreign thing;

For then its treasures surely will be hid,

And bitter—bitter sorrow to thee bring.”

Thro’ many weary days of gloomy light;

I wandered from the home where dwelt my friend;

But his last gift o’er cast a lustre bright

Upon all things—and this did never end.

Until I roamed unto a distant shore,

Where shone a golden sand beneath the tide;

And ‘midst the shells that decked its beaches o’er,

A wondrous, glowing jewel I espied.

Its crimson ray rejoiced my weary eyes,

And eager to possess, I wildly cried—

“My casket merits well such noble prize!

I’ll grasp, and in it, deep, this jewel hide.”

I stopped, and lifted up the glist’ning gem,”

Unmindful of a pleading, warning voice;

And on a purple spread, with jewelled hem,

Enshrined the precious jewel of my choice.

There, day by day, I watched its beauteous gleam,

Nor favored with a glance another stone,

But laughed and tossed them to a babbling stream,

Until remained my Koh-i-noor alone.

At least, I went one stormy day, to see—

And found—a pebble in my ruby’s stead!

My own dazed eyes had caused the light so free!

And all my dreams of splendor straight were dead.

Alfred once again abandoned his family and returned to Chihuahua in 1880 as Yda was teaching in Tustin, California. She later joined her father in Mexico but when he died in 1886, she returned to Los Angeles. Yda then found herself entangled in a scandal with the governor of California, John G. Downey. You can read more about that here. When the controversy subsided, Yda moved back to Mexico. Here, she started writing about her travels in Mexico and, specifically, the rural Mexican locals. Then-editor of Harper's Weekly, Charles Dudley Warner, didn't believe Yda could write this well and sent someone down to verify the article. Authorship proved, Yda's article was published, with Warner purported to be the author. Yda then sent in numerous articles to other publications explaining how she was the author of the piece and should get all the credit. This battle of words continued until at least 1890 when mention of it stopped.

Yda then quickly married and initiated divorce Charles Storke in 1891. Claiming Storke was "cruel", Yda printed letters in newspapers detailing the abuse she suffered at the hands of Storke and his 14-year-old son. Storke would fire off his own letter claiming Yda was unstable, suicidal, and just a liar. Storke kept appealing the divorce through the courts, which Yda couldn't afford, thus prompting her to constantly get the courts to force Storke to pay her legal fees. Neither Storke or Yda looked good during these divorce proceedings. Storke came off looking petty and cruel, but Yda seemed insane, especially when it came out that bought a gun specfically for the purpose to kill Storke's son. In early 1892, a judge ruled that Yda's claim of Storke's cruelty was not true, but ruled that Yda was not insane and ordered Storke to pay more alimony and legal fees to Yda.

Yda then petitioned to be allowed to live at the poor house. She was admitted in July 1892. She was currently living in Santa Barbara. More legal trouble hit Yda in 1897 when she sued Storke's son, Thomas. Thomas counter-sued claiming that she was lying. The judge ruled in favor of Thomas and Yda was indicted and arrested. After the trial, she was sentenced to one year in jail since she had no money to pay the fine. She was then arrested again for entering the house of her former lawyer, Grant Jackson, and attempting to kill him.

She claimed that she and Jackson had been married since 1895 but all evidence of it had been gotten rid of or stolen. She plead not guilty and the grand jury ruled that no further proceedings were necessary thus clearing Yda of attempted murder. While in jail for her libelous letters, she apparently began writing additional letters and sending them to people around Santa Barbara charging them with "the filthiest things". She was then put on surveillance to keep her from writing more letters. Her jail sentence would come to an end on May 10, 1900 after ten months.

Now out of jail, her career and reputation were in tatters due to her conviction and imprisonment, her nasty divorce, and the attempted murder charge. Sometime after her release to sometime in 1901, Yda disappeared. Not just from the newspapers she used to so regularly show up in, but from society in general. One unconfirmed theory was that while still attempting to get money from Storke, he had her committed to an asylum. The theory goes she either died there or escaped. But, in 1912, a Mrs. A.H. Jackson, a former magazine writer, was hired as a secretary for the Board of Trade in Laredo, Texas. Jackson's mother, Sarah Hillis, and aunt, Mary H. Short, died in 1913 so Jackson resigned from the Board and moved back to San Antonio. Much of Jackson's life is unknown but she was admitted to the San Antonio State Hospital in 1930. Jackson would die of uterine cancer in 1941.

A theory has come to light that A.H. Jackson--full name Adelayda Hillis Jackson--and Yda Hillis Addis Storke-Jackson was the same person. The similarities between the two women are startling. Both had fathers named Alfred Shea. Both had mothers named Sarah Hillis Short. Both had aunts named Mary Short. While we don't have definitive proof that Yda and Jackson are the same person, you can't deny their lives are very similar. We have no evidence of what happened to Yda Hillis Addis after 1901, most assuming she passed away--she was very frail and sick, according to her, the last fifteen years of her life--in 1902. Adelayda Hillis Jackson is buried in East Mount Calm Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas.

illustration of Yda Hillis Addis from 1899

Decaf Riff-Raff, Part 3

And he just expects these pharmaceutical companies to cut through all the
red tape and begin construction in...*checks notes* five days?

Do not listen to Dr. Caps Lock here. Listen to your doctor. The people he's really
screaming at could barely spit out agreement that Obama was president, but this
idiot makes them go "Yes, sir. Anything for my country!"

I tend to avoid escalators if I can but even I know that you hold on to the railing,
and if the escalator suddenly stops, you can continue to use it as stairs. Meanwhile, this
moron believes it's a huge conspiracy. Maybe don't live your life in a way that if an
escalator stops working, you don't think it's because people hate you.

Once again, he expects that furniture factories will be greenlit and built within
days or weeks and that there are enough people to staff them. I thought Trump
was a businessman but he seems to know very little about how businesses work.

If this was a Democrat scam then why did Trump pardon all of the ones convicted?
Why do several of them work for the federal government?
And why are a few more running for office as a MAGA Republican?

Bread is only down $0.10 from this time last year.
Eggs are up $0.20 from this time last year.
Milk is up $0.13 from this time last year.
Gas is only down $0.30 from this time last year.
Electricity is up nearly 8% from this time last year.
Yet Trump is "let them eat cake"ing at the White House.

Look, I completely agree that part of what Trump is going through is because of old age and an addled mind mixing with his narcissism and hatred of basically anyone and anything. But I also believe that had we just re-elected him in 2020, he wouldn't be as bad. I'm not saying it would be great because his first term wasn't that great, but now he's mad at us. He's mad at us for not re-electing him and, now that his fascist sympathizers drew him a roadmap, he seeks to hurt us all.

Also, if we had re-elected him 2020, he'd be done and we'd be on to a new president.

November 8, 1966

Shouldn't Brutus know what's going on in his own house? He should know the floors were being varnished today. Gladys probably even has it marked down on a calendar in the kitchen or something like my Grandma used to do.

I feel Brutus should be going the other way...

Oh my God. We're still on this. JUST STOP ON THE WAY TO WORK AND BUY A COFFEE!!

How late is Brutus now? Half hour? Hour?

Love Those Jitters

November 7, 1966

And now the binoculars are going to be broken because "old sewer gas" here is going to beat ol' Thornapple to a bloody pulp. Now what's Harry going to do over lunch?

Now wait a minute! Did you buy decaf coffee or less caffeine coffee? Did you buy it because caffeine isn't healthy (whatever that means) or to stop Brutus from being jittery? You're telling two different stories here, Gladys, and I don't like either one.

Brutus looks better than yesterday.

But It's Not Caffeine-Free

November 5, 1966

"And you couldn't've shoveled our walk while you were out shoveling the neighbor's?"

"Are you going to pay me?"

"No."

"All right then."

You know, you could just make him shovel the walk. Parents make their kids do stuff all the time. You want to eat, you gotta contribute. This is why today's Wilberforce is rarely shown eating. He never helps out.

"Caffeine isn't healthy" I wouldn't want to live if I thought that. I'm on the side of "just live your life". We're all gonna die anyway so live your life in a way that you can be happy.

Brutus does look rough. Look, if the coffee from home isn't hitting, just buy coffee on the way to work. You can never have too much coffee, is what I always say.

Asleep at the Switch

November 4, 1966

Clearly he's talking about all the ghosts from the other people who became stranded on this island and died. Getting stranded on a desert island is something that constantly happens and not everyone gets rescued.

Inactivity? He should be working which isn't inactivity. I'm impressed Brutus is holding onto his pen/cil while he doses at his desk. I always drop mine.

I Got Some Constructive Criticism for You

November 3, 1966

Say what you will about today's modern age Brutus, but he would never do this. Brutus may be a kiss-ass but not in this way. Modern age Brutus probably wouldn't understand Veeblefester's jokes to fake laugh anyway.

We are doing way too much with this constructive criticism stuff. It's been one comic a week for the last four weeks. You can't lump these together and just do a week-long storyline about constructive criticism?

Fore! Cast.

June 21, 1987

Jesus, Veeblefester and his company has been through a lot. Maybe that's why Brutus is never fired. No one is sure if he's good luck or bad luck. Did he save the company from bankruptcy or help cause the bankruptcy? Did Brutus being around break Veeblefester's leg or did Brutus keep Veeblefester from dying? Who knows?

Brutus should go out and play golf now instead of waiting. I like how Uncle Ted seems more technologically inclined than Brutus.

President Trump has declared, or at least suggested because they all use weasel-words so when they are called out they can go "That's not what I said!", that coverage of him is "illegal" and "not free speech". This follows the crackdown on people making snarky and/or poor taste comments on Charlie Kirk's death and the firing of Jimmy Kimmel. I don't necessarily talk about politics on here because the comics don't warrant it, but if the federal government starts putting limits on speech, then we no longer have free speech. It's right there in the Constitution--IT'S THE FIRST ONE!!

You can go read Saturday's post on Boswell Park in Topeka, Kansas. If you wish to support me or this website, you can go here.

Brownie Blocked

November 2, 1966

There need to be people working the switchboard, I don't know why we think that's a "less-than" job. I always figured mostly women worked switchboards because people would rather hear a woman's voice directing your call, but I understand switchboards may also be rooted in sexism. It's how this country runs: either sexism or racism. Occasionally both.

......Why can't Brutus have a brownie? Why is she keeping the brownies away? Just knock her over, Brutus.

Boswell Square Park

Boswell Public School was constructed in 1922 on Boswell Avenue in the College Hill neighborhood of Topeka, Kansas. In 1928, the school began the junior high program and starting with the 1929 school year, it became Boswell Junior High School. The school colors were red and white and their mascot were the Wildcats.

Due to consolidation, Boswell Junior High was closed down and then demolished in 1981. Due to be replaced by apartments, the neighborhood stepped up to turn the land into a park, Boswell Square. The date stone of the school was incorporated into the wall of fame and a gazebo from Menninger's was installed along with a flower garden, playground equipment, and a basketball court. The gazebo was recently replaced with a new one as was the playground equipment but the park continues to be a centerpiece of the Historic College Hill neighborhood.

Boswell Square Park entrance sign with flower garden and playground
equipment in the background.

Boswell Junior High School

Remains of the front entrance and columns during demolition.

Vanity plate for the Boswell Junior High Wildcats

The 1922 date stone in the wall of fame.

A memorial for the school and the original gazebo.

The wall of fame and the new gazebo with Westminster Presbyterian Church in the background.

Suggestion

November 1, 1966

Why is Gladys calling Brutus Cecil? I don't care, but Gladys is really going through stuff here. She is very upset that Brutus is mad at her. I like how it actually looks like they are in a bed and not in Sleep Sacks™.

Veeblefester would probably fire you for talking bad about Charlie Kirk. Not because he's a Charlie Kirk fan, but because he's always looking for reasons to fire people.

Kiss Her Grits

October 31, 1966

Should we really be eating the thing we make cathode-ray tubes with? Strontium is also used for bone stuff so it's not completely unsafe. Brand X, Strontium 90, cereal is cereal and it's all good. Except for Cocoa Puffs.

I get ice cream with every order so I'm not one to judge. Good for Brutus for getting a shake. It bothers me he didn't specify what kind of shake, but his speech bubble did run out of space. Maybe they only have one flavor. "You'll take vanilla and you'll like it!" Yes. Yes, I will.

I don't know why Flo here looks like Gladys' younger, thinner half-sister. That's a question for another time. But we know Flo is probably named after Flo from Alice portrayed by Polly Holliday who recently passed away.

Bird's the Word

October 29, 1966

Kids can be exorbitantly cruel, Gladys. I am around children all day and they are mean to me, other adults, other kids, their friends, themselves. That's what he's getting away from, the children's nasty barbs. Crippling embarrassment I can handle.

Clearly the insurance companies were able to keep certain people out of this neighborhood. Arnie's not buying a house here.

Brutus could've made another bird friend. Remember when we got a strip of a bird nesting in Brutus' hat? At least here we see the bird land and we're not just thrown into a wacky situation.

Chip Loved This Punchline

You may have noticed or remembered a gap in my posts a year ago. They abruptly stopped in August and resumed in November. Between that time, there was only one post. The reason for that was because my Mom got really sick and died. She actually died one year ago today. The reason I stopped posting was I just wasn't feeling. I'm doing fine. I work all day and come home and write so it's not really something that I dwell on.

Over this last year, I've learned that the part I miss most is being able to share things with her. And I'm not talking about important things, but just the stupid things. Like when a celebrity dies or talking about the new King of the Hill season. I'd see something on the news or online and think "Mom'll post about this" or "Mom'll talk to me about this" and now that doesn't happen. I'm glad she's not around to see what's going on because she hated Trump (an old-school hate from the '80s and '90s) and adamantly wanted Kamala Harris to win, and I don't need her worrying about her social security check, Medicare, or her partially federally funded housing.

Anyway, be kind and tell people you love them.

October 28, 1966

Leave the postal employees alone!!

Someday, this won't make any sense because most stamps are just stickers now. Maybe all stamps. More than likely it's all stamps because that would be weird. "Can I get the new heart stamps? No, the ones you lick. I fucking love licking stamps."

You may remember this punchline from last week. "Oh, it's a rerun" someone said in the comments. No, it's new. Notice the handwritten date. Chip purposefully made the same joke within the same week. There's no excuse for that. Chip's editor should have a talk with him.