Judge — February 26, 1887 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This **Judge** cartoon from February 26, 1887 uses the metaphor of carving cheese to satirize political division over Brooklyn. The figure on the left labeled "BROOKLYN" appears as a large wheel of cheese, while a well-dressed man on the right (identified as "H. W. Beecher" in the caption) wields a knife to cut it up. The joke plays on a contemporary political dispute: Brooklyn's potential annexation or division. Beecher's caption—"Well, who'd have thought it?"—suggests ironic surprise at the prospect of fragmenting Brooklyn. The caricatured figure and the "cheese" metaphor mock the political maneuvering and self-interest involved in Brooklyn's governance debates of the 1880s.