The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-07-18
HITS OF CARIcATURE.


 The cartoonists are responsible for CD dowing the occult arities of public mer with immortality. Bu; for them politi. clans might make fools of themselve. one day and their folly be forgotten the next Their potent pencils make the wicked tremble and the foolish quake Nickn ames, pecuharities m2nnerisms mistakes. and idiocies are eR balmed by the art of caricature in a manner that de ties oblivion and makes the subjects thereof "somm at wakeful D nights"
 The caroonist seems to have been created for the purpose of administering reproof to public offenders in a way they despise and remem per. Scathing edi- torials have no terrors for political sin ners. They well knoW that the public will forget them ID a week. if, indeed they are read al all But when a master of the pencil impales a man he impresses his unhAl owed inspiration on the gen. eral mind forever. When genius and ri1ieule combine to make a man un- comfortable and absurd the man gets the worst ef it
 Some Of the distinguishing m arks-the tags of burlesque, by which the comic
 
 public have been so long in use they can scarcely be traced to their inventors.
 For instance, there is the familiar and extraordinary figure of our honored |" Un- cle Sam" Every AG1eric an acknowledges kinshlp with hIm, but few know how he came into existence Even some of the artists who have depicted him year after year, ID his different m pods and attitudes. know nothing of his origin. Alter mak- ing many interrogatories in regard to him and considerable research into his genealogy, learned that the English cancaturis, created him in deusion, long ago. The intent was to embody all the ignorance, egotism, crudeness, preten- ton and assertiveness of the saucy young country in the quaint figure of the old Yankee But there was dignity in the self-satished old man which his creators neither meant nor saw. The peo. pie of the new country saw 1t, however, and took him to their hearts. They adopted t1e.i lea of the beue6cent uncle, and put Ii into song and story. Then they accepted him as he was portrayed, ih and elong gated, long haired, hatchet- faced, and wearing faiment the like of
 
 striped pantaloons of an economical cut. swallow-tailed coat of most antiq ated design. high bat that is a challenge te all modern headwear, and a vest gaudier than a tropical bird. This became the familiar fl. ure which in comic art repre- sented our beloved country. The idea took definite form it became the fixed in our fancy; it was a creation destined to live and to grow. Uacle Sam bee ame a fact, reality, part of ourselves and our history.
 He was first made familiar to his peo- pie in YaSked Notfoss a comic paper that iounshed more than a quarter of a century ago, but has long since clim bed the golden stair. Mast was the frs, ar tist to lift our revered uncle ou, of ridi- cule and contempt endow him with proper dignity and ma ake him a distinc- tive and honored character, though he claims DO credit for it. He says he re- members him as far back as he can re- member anything in th- way of pictures. The other artists assert that Mast has made him what he is, a kind, wise cour ageous, quick witted, sunny spirited, dig nihed, lovable old m an, keenly alive to everything affecting the interests of his people in saort, gentleman.
 It IS interesting to see how the charac- ter of Uacle Sam" has develope with the character of his people. One realiz $ this by com paring some of the old DOT traits of him with the more modern In NaSts allegorical sketches we have seen him in all the phases of his strong. spir- lted and noble character. He has wept with Columbia over the bier of heroes he has held fast to the old flag when it was riddled with shot and shelf he has turned his gray head aside in humiliation when pubic trusts were betrayed and honors abused he has nourned over his slain sons as they lay in the valleys, on the hills, and by the rivers of the south. His keen wit has mercilessly punctured shams and his big heart overfiowed with sympa- thy when the children of his adoption suffered. Dear, quaint, grand old "Un- cle Sam" may his kind and rugged face ever beam on us in love and goodwill. When he smiles his people rejoice when he weeps or frowns they are sorrowfui or disobedient.
 One of the whims of caricature is to make Uncle Sam fat and jolly when times are good" aad thin and sad when Chances languish. Keppler, of PHek, first made him fat in the prosper ous days of 7q. Oae of Nast's hts was giving him swollen silver leg and one good solid gold one during the monetary con ference in France and the mining excite ment in the west, six years ago The silver leg was gouty, and could only be moved by means of sraps and pulleys. It tied hin to the chair and made an in- valid of him. of course. Immediately following the remonetiz ation of silver Mast inveuted the clipped dollar which he still uses occasionally, not approving of the return to silver. Ii was Mast who represented "Uncle Sam" as an eagle.
 He, too. first made a widow of Ben Butler. During one ofehe many runs'' that gentleman made for the governor ship oi Massachusetts M Ae made speech, in which he said: "l am not a coy maiden, l am . widow" intimating tha, hA ~wSffsnr ka