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A Selection of Cartoons from Puck cover

A Selection of Cartoons from Puck

Chapter 25: THE CAROL OF THE “WAITS.”
By Joseph Ferdinand Keppler
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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.

THE CAROL OF THE “WAITS.”

PUCK, December 23rd, 1885.

When Mr. Cleveland first became President in 1885, he put into practice a much broader theory of Civil Service Reform than certain active politicians of his party had any use for. Nor did he show any great eagerness to shower offices and honors upon those members of his party who had proved false to him in the campaign of the previous year. On December 23rd, 1885, Puck pictured these unfortunates as Christmas “Waits,” standing outside the White House in the wintry cold, and raising their voices in plaintive song:

“God rest you, merry gentlemen,
 May nothing you dismay;
 Remember us poor spoilsmen left
 This blessed Christmas Day.
“Since Christmas comes but once a year,
 Oh, let us share your Christmas cheer,
 And chuck one little office here
 On Christmas Day in the A. M.”