A Selection of Cartoons from Puck

PUCK, April 11th, 1888.

The editorial article accompanying this picture draws a curious historical parallel between the characters of Samuel Pepys and Grover Cleveland, with a side glance at “South Sea Bubble” Law and certain moderns who resemble him in certain ways. After sketching Pepys’s career in the British Admiralty Office, the article closes:

“‘A man of the old way of taking pains,’ they called him in that degenerate day. Is not that even now a good standard by which to test public service? Is all greatness to lie in bluster, noise, braggadocio, and what we are pleased to call ‘smartness’? These were the attributes of the men who were the official superiors of Samuel Pepys just two centuries ago. The world has forgotten their names. But the old fashion of honest service is still honorable. Those who have borne with us so far in this historical recital may forgive us if we suggest a modern instance. A few weeks ago, the presiding officer of the United States Senate told his distinguished audience that no man was so mean or so obscure that he might not be President of the United States, now that Grover Cleveland held that place. Mr. Grover Cleveland was a lawyer in one of our smaller cities. He became, successively, Sheriff and Mayor of his town, Governor of his state, and President of the United States. In every office he has done his duty ‘in the old way of taking pains.’ He has had no hand in the corruption of political life; he has never been the pensioner of corporate monopolies. As Sheriff, Mayor, Governor and President he has served the people honestly and wisely, ‘in the old way of taking pains.’ To our mind this gives him a claim to the regard and respect of the people that will not easily be shaken by the bluster of his enemies. The people will look at the work he has done before they decide whether or no he is President by accident—whether the Time has done everything for him, he nothing—but what the little critic could have done too.”