Judge — January 6, 1883 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of "A Sad New Year" (The Judge, January 6, 1883) This cartoon depicts two contrasting figures on New Year's Day 1883. The left shows a well-dressed gentleman indoors with an ornate lamp, holding what appears to be tea or coffee. The right shows a disheveled, bearded sailor or working-class man outdoors, also holding a cup. The caption reads: "NO GROG FOR THE SAILOR, NO WINE FOR THE CALLER" This satirizes likely temperance or prohibition-related policies enacted around New Year's 1883. The cartoon suggests that both social classes—wealthy and working poor—were denied their traditional alcoholic beverages (wine for the genteel caller; grog for the sailor), presenting this as a shared "sad" consequence. The juxtaposition critiques how such restrictions affected everyone across class lines.