No Rest for the Wicked — Sentenced to More Hard Labor

Nast turns his pen on himself: the artist sits cross-legged on the floor, sharpening a pencil with grim concentration, surrounded by the political kindling of the disputed 1876 Hayes–Tilden election. Two broadsheets flank him — The Solid South Must Be Watched or They Will Prey and Reform Is Necessary and We Must Watch That It Is Carried Out in Good Faith — signaling his twin anxieties: Democratic resurgence in the former Confederacy and corruption in Reconstruction government. The accompanying editorial text warns Americans that Grant remains president, that Hayes shall be inaugurated if elected, and that the country, not gamblers' pools, is at stake. The self-caricature is unflattering but affectionate — Nast renders his own stocky frame and beard with the same exaggerated economy he applied to Tweed. The caption's biblical irony is the joke: the crusading cartoonist gets no rest because democracy itself demands constant labor.