William F. Marriner had a great idea with The House of Mirth, a strip about kids running a little sideshow-type establishment. There’s a great twist to it, which I’ll let the samples above reveal. Unfortunately once the gag is played a few times the surprise is gone. Marriner recognized that and didn’t stay with the strip for long, a wise decision that many other cartoonists wouldn’t have made.

The House of Mirth ran in McClure’s Otis F. Wood-copyrighted Sunday section from March 4 to June 25 1906, and returned for a single later appearance in the section on August 4 1907 (probably a left-over). In 1916 the strip ran in b&w reprints from the International Cartoon Company, sold to a few podunk papers.

Thanks to Cole Johnson for the samples!