The Grand and Glorious Coal Man
Clare Briggs
Clare Briggs is a famous cartoonist who lived from 1875 to 1930. Poems by Wilbur Nesbitt.
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My Grandparents Cain lived in a very small town in south-central Iowa that existed because there was a coal seam close to the surface and it was roughly midway between Chicago and Kansas City. They still had a coal furnace when I was a lad — I couldn’t wait until I was deemed big enough to go down to the basement early on cold winter mornings when we were there and shovel coal (I immediately learned why Dad and Grandpa had also been impatient for me to be deemed big enough). I only remember seeing the coal man once, running a ton or so of coal from the truck down the chute into the basement coal bin.Report
Is this supposed to be funny?Report
It’s more of a “you know that feeling when?” comment.
Instead of asking “is this supposed to be funny?”, ask “is this supposed to be relatable?”
Like, imagine living in a place where the majority of the people you know would look at this cartoon and say “yep, that *IS* a gr-r-r-rand and glorious feelin’!”Report
Exactly what I was going to say. It’s like TFW posts/tweets from 100 years ago.Report
The more modern equivalent is losing electricity for two days due to a severe weather event. And ain’t it a gr-r-r-rand and glorious feelin’ when the power comes back on.
We haven’t had a power outage longer than a few hours for years now, but I’ve still got a propane lantern and a single-burner propane stove tucked away, and a couple of little propane cylinders out in the garage.Report
We used to keep a ton of coal in the basement, and my grandmother probably kept 10 or 20 tons in her barn. It is a wonderful feeling to know you won’t run out of heat!
What the cartoon conveys is the feeling we would get if our car was out of gas, in the middle of a blizzard, on a rural road miles outside of Nowhere Idaho. After three or four hours contemplating our family’s death by freezing, the AAA guy finally shows up with a 5-gallon gas can, bringing unspeakable joy and happiness.Report