HE ALSO did something I hadn't seen before or since. These "rumination" strips were mini-essays about serious subjects. Comics is about compression, and Childress was a master at expressing a scene with a few lines. This strip could run in today's smaller dimensions and it would lose none of their clarity. But to be able to write 70 words or so and give you a thought to take with you through the day makes Childress a rare artist.

(The "rumination" strips looked a lot better in the dailies, with Childress' distinctive lettering and the illustration running along the bottom. Someone had to hack these panels apart to make it fit on the vertical page.)