George Stibbs, Alone and Loving It

Normally you wouldn’t expect sons of a man close to death to want him to remarry, because the new wife would almost assuredly snag the inheritance. However, in Milborough, if the old man remarries (like Grandpa Jim) and has medical problems, then the new wife is saddled with taking care of him; while the younger relatives play. That might be worth losing an inheritance to not have to deal with the “aged until almost dead” relative. George Stibbs’s boys want him to remarry, and given the example of Grandpa Jim, I can see why they might want that to happen. A good wife means George’s boys don’t have to lift a finger to help him. Grandpa Jim has set a good example for them.

George doesn’t want to remarry, and John confesses he would not remarry either. George says, “Once is enough” in order to attract attention to the idea his marriage was bad. John gives no reason, but I suspect he was thinking it was more out of loyalty to his deceased wife. Perhaps that is the reason John agreed with him. But the final panel of the strip is a delight if you think of John Patterson suddenly thinking, “I could live without Elly!! Why haven't I thought of this before?"