Out Our Way

A single-panel gag strip by J. R. Williams featuring rural American humor. Young Elton attempts to eat his bread and jam alone in the backyard to avoid sharing with his sister—a scheme immediately undermined by the farm's chickens and rooster, who crowd around competing for the food. Williams's economical line work and clear speech balloon establish the domestic conflict through visual comedy rather than elaborate setup. The strip exemplifies how newspaper comics of the 1920s distilled everyday situations into quick laughs, relying on recognized character types (the scheming child, barnyard animals) and physical gags. Williams's work appeared in syndication across hundreds of papers, helping establish the comic strip as a daily fixture of American life alongside the newspaper itself.