The National Dairy Council, which issued this poster, was created in 1915 by American dairy farmers and processors wishing to promote the health benefits of milk and thus increase sales. The traditional illustration of the little girl sewing at the kitchen table with an apple and a glass of milk awaiting her reflects the social conventions of postwar America. The tagline, “As the tree is bent…” is based on the proverb known in its current form from Alexander Pope’s Epistles to Several Persons (1732): “just as the twig is bent the tree’s inclined.” It suggests that early influences and habits have a lasting impact.