Milquetoast, a wimpy character whose name is derived from milk toast. Webster described Caspar Milquetoast as "the man who speaks softly and gets hit with a big stick". The modern dictionary definition of milquetoast (meaning a very shy or retiring person) comes from Webster's cartoons. In 1927 Webster trained himself to draw left-handed in three months after a severe case of arthritis impaired the use of his right hand. In 1931, the World folded, and that same year, Simon & Schuster published a collection of The Timid Soul reprints. Webster then went back to the New York Tribune (now known as the New York Herald Tribune), where he then launched a Timid Soul Sunday strip. He alternated his various features throughout the week: Caspar Milquetoast was seen on both Sunday and Monday. Youth's glories (The Thrill That Comes Once in a Lifetime) and the downside (Life's Darkest Moment) appeared on Saturdays and Tuesdays. On Wednesday, The Unseen Audience offered satirical jabs at radio. How to Torture Your Husband (or Wife) was published each Thursday, and the week ended with Bridge on Fridays. During the 1940s, Webster lived at Shippan Point in Stamford, Connecticut. His assistant, Herb Roth, took over when Webster died in 1952. When Roth died the following year, the series came to an end with the last new drawing appearing in the New York Herald Tribune on April 4, 1953. Television On June 22, 1949, the DuMont Television Network adapted The Timid Soul to television as the premiere presentation of their Program Playhouse series. Caspar Milquetoast was portrayed by Ernest Truex. Bibliography Our Boyhood Thrills and Other Cartoons (1915) Boys and Folks (1917) Webster's Bridge with William Johnston (1924) Webster's Poker Book (1926) The Timid Soul (1931) The Culberston-Webster Contract System with Ely Culbertson (1932) Webster Unabridged (1945) To Hell with Fishing (1945) Who Dealt This Mess (1948) How to Torture Your Husband (1948) How to Torture Your Wife (1948) Life with Rover (1949) The Best of H. T. Webster, a Memorial Collection , foreword by Robert E. Sherwood (Simon & Schuster, 1953) References External links Caspar Milquetoast Webster's Unalloyed 1885 births 1952 deaths American comics artists American comic strip cartoonists People from Tomahawk, Wisconsin People from Parkersburg, West Virginia