Dear Old Golden Rule Days

Scholarback Saturday gives politics a rest today to resurrect some century-old back-to-school cartoons.

"Gee! Old September's Here!" by Charles Ash in Dayton Journal, September 1918 or 1919.

There isn't a great depth of meaning to these cartoons. One does note that overwhelmingly, the stars of these cartoons are little boys, forced against their will to forsake the dog and the swimming hole in favor of a cravat, shoes, and a bundle of books.

"The Melancholy Days Will Soon Be Here" by William Hanny in St. Joseph News-Press, Sept. 5, 1919

If girls back then were expected to spend summer helping Ma around the house, perhaps little Marie wasn't as sorry to see the arrival of Fall. But then, little Johnnie was expected to perform his chores, too; there is no shortage of summertime cartoons of little boys glumly peeling potatoes on the porch or hauling water from the well. All of that, however, was forgotten when September rolled around.

"When a Feller Needs a Friend" by Clare Briggs in Chicago Tribune, Sept. 1918 or 1919

I've allowed for the possibility that some of these cartoons were a year old when Cartoons Magazine included them in its October, 1919 edition. Cartoons Magazine often ran cartoons from the previous year when putting together a round-up of holiday and seasonal work; the cartoons in the July, 1919 edition's celebration of Independence Day and Bastille Day were clearly drawn while American and French soldiers were fighting side by side on the battlefield.

"When a Feller Needs a Friend" by Clare Briggs in Chicago Tribune, Sept. 1, 1919

This episode of Claire Briggs's "When a Feller Needs a Friend" series does indeed date from 1919. I can't imagine a lad of this feller's age going to school in shoes like those today. Or, for that matter, wearing a neckerchief like that. Even on Class Photo Day.

To balance off the cartoons that might have been from 1918 instead of 1919, here are a couple that might have been from 1920.

"School Days!" by Fred Seibel in Knickerbocker Press, Sept. 1919 or 1920

Fred Seibel's signature crow gives a shout-out to Clare Briggs in this cartoon that predates the concern that overloaded backpacks were giving our youth scoliosis. Nowadays, of course, the entire Library of Congress fits in Junior's shirt pocket, and we know that poor posture has nothing to do with how many volumes he had to carry from the classroom to Mom's car and back again.

"Called to the Colors!" by Billy Ireland in Columbus Dispatch, Sept. 1919 or 1920

Even though Cartoons Magazine printed this Billy Ireland cartoon in 1920, the military recruitment aspect of "Your country needs you!" makes me wonder if they hadn't sat on this cartoon for two years. Americans surely hadn't forgotten conscription by 1920, but it wasn't particularly immediate in people's minds.

Yet it is the phenomenon of the American educational system forcing young boys go to the dentist that truly deserves further study.

"Wanderlust" by Magnus Kettner for Western Newspaper Union, Sept. 1918 or 1919

Finally, some cartoons that recognize that little girls had to go to school, too.

It looks to me as though Magnus Kettner's schoolboys could get away with going off to school barefoot. Briggs's schoolboy might have loved to hop the train just to get off at Kettners's school.

"G'wan Now!—G'wan Home!" by George W. Rehse in New York World, Sept. 1918 or 1919

Now, don't George Rehse's little girls look perfectly happy to be going back to class?

"A New Version of September Morn" by Wm. C. Morris for George Matthew Adams Service, Sept. 1919 or 1920

Well, Bill Morris settles it, then. Girls just adore going to school. Any excuse to wear a bow the size of a sewing basket in their hair.