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[The Australian Panther]

I'm presuming he is being facetious and mildly sarcastic about the 19th century version of the American practice of 'sending the kids to Camp in the summer' ?
There is really only one joke repeated through the whole book tho.
You always have to wonder, and what were the Adults doing in the 'kids' absence?

Nice one Lyons.

Link to the book: Summer School of Philosophy at Mt. Desert

[Robb_K]

I'm presuming he is being facetious and mildly sarcastic about the 19th century version of the American practice of 'sending the kids to Camp in the summer' ?
There is really only one joke repeated through the whole book tho.
You always have to wonder, and what were the Adults doing in the 'kids' absence?

It seems to me, that sending one's kids to summer camp in both USA and Canada was a LOT more common during the 20th Century than The 19th.  It was a very big thing when I grew up.  Back in The 19th Century, when my grandparents grew up, most kids of camp age worked on their fathers' farms, or in their father's store, or in a sweatshop industrial factory.  Most families didn't have the extra money to do such frivolous things. That practice mainly got started in the 1920s, but only for wealthy families.  It didn't reach the general public in significant numbers until just after WWII.  A few of my classmates attended such camps, but, even most of them just went for 2 or 3 weeks.  We Jewish kids ALL worked in our father's businesses, or in my case, we relocated to The Netherlands every summer, where I attended school with my cousins, until The Dutch schools let out around mid July.

But, are you sure you haven't got your centuries mixed up?

[The Australian Panther]

Robb,

I did say. "The 19th century version" 

That practice mainly got started in the 1920s, but only for wealthy families. 

That's what I assumed. 'Going to Camp' is not a common Australian experience, so I did not know when the practice started.
Cheers

[Robb_K]

Robb,

I did say. "The 19th century version" 

That practice mainly got started in the 1920s, but only for wealthy families. 

That's what I assumed. 'Going to Camp' is not a common Australian experience, so I did not know when the practice started.
Cheers

I guess I should read the story, so I'll understand the context for the "joke", even if it isn't really funny.  Without having yet seen it, I assume that the story taking place during The 19th Century is something like the story of the children's book, "Holes", in which badly-behaved boys are sent to a prison-like "work camp", which is like a prisoner of war camp, or prison work camp, and the author tried to make a very ironic comparison about that situation, by comparing that to a fun, carefree summer vacation away from one's parents and mean schoolteachers.

[The Australian Panther]

Robb, read the comment post by CrashRyan here.
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=81137

Explains it all.

Also,

J.A. Mitchell was an author and artist who was the co-founder and editor of the original Life (humor) magazine. He also wrote a remarkable science fiction novel, "Drowsy." 

I think now, for Mitchell to go to the trouble to print a book full of cartoons [very good work too] about this one 'Camp', he was mocking attendees and likely personally acquainted with some of them.

Cheers!   

[Robb_K]

I hadn't realised that it was not a story book, but rather a sketch book with only one or two comments or captions per page.

Well, apparently I was on the right track mentioning that only the very wealthy could afford to loll about in the summer in special sporting or vacation type locations, during those old days.  Bar Harbor, Maine, shown in all its glory, was where the super rich spent summers sailing and vacationing during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.

The sketchbook seems to have a cynical message, that dallying about in summer, with the opposite sex can be fun, but can lead to marriage, which will shackle young, virile and happy men to one woman for the rest of their lives which will likely not be nearly as rosy as it was beforehand.  So, beware young men!  And the young woman in the picture shackled to the young man looks unhappy, too.  So, I guess this is a "philosophical view" as a message of warning to vacationers of both sexes seeking romance. 

[Robb_K]

Robb, read the comment post by CrashRyan here.
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=81137

Explains it all.

Also,

J.A. Mitchell was an author and artist who was the co-founder and editor of the original Life (humor) magazine. He also wrote a remarkable science fiction novel, "Drowsy." 

I think now, for Mitchell to go to the trouble to print a book full of cartoons [very good work too] about this one 'Camp', he was mocking attendees and likely personally acquainted with some of them.

Cheers!

I'm sure you are right about that.