A Selection of Cartoons from Puck

Chapter 20: UNCLE SAM’S LODGING HOUSE.

Open in WeRead

Explore more books like this:

About This Book

This collection gathers satirical pictorial essays and caricatures originally published in a humor magazine, pairing sharp visual exaggeration with allegorical scenes to comment on political and social issues of the late nineteenth century. An introductory essay explains the artist’s German-influenced approach that fuses caricature and cartooning into dramatic parables, and the plates reproduce large, detailed cartoons with accompanying captions and an index to aid interpretation. The volume emphasizes visual wit, topical parody, and the interplay of character drawing and symbolic narrative.

UNCLE SAM’S LODGING HOUSE.

PUCK, June 7th, 1882.

In 1882 (June 7th), when “Uncle Sam’s Lodging House” was drawn, the Irish “patriots,” who were trying to free their country by exploding dynamite in public places, had made this country their base of supplies, and were especially active in New York and Chicago. Their lawlessness created much excitement, and if it had not been that there was more bluster than performance about their pernicious liveliness they might have involved us in a war with Great Britain, in which we should certainly have lacked the moral support of our own conscience. These gentry did not relish the stand Puck took in the matter, and their threats of reprisal by dynamite were frequent. The rate of letter postage had some time previously been reduced from three to two cents.

(larger)