Life, 1885-11-19 · page 6 of 18
Life — November 19, 1885 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Frozen Out: A Tale of the Nicaragua Canal" This satirical piece mocks the failed Nicaragua Canal project. The narrative describes Uncle Sam (personified U.S. government) attempting to dig a canal beside the San Juan River, while foreign nations laugh at his slow progress. The satire's punchline: when the work finally completes and he begins fortifying it, European powers meet in Berlin, angrily fixing the water level. As a result, the Caribbean Sea drains, the Gulf of Mexico empties, and the Gulf Stream is diverted southward—freezing Europe. The final image shows a frozen European figure, illustrating the consequence: Arctic cold replaces the warming Gulf Stream. This critiques both American canal ambitions and international diplomatic tensions over Central American interests during the late 19th/early 20th century.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
286 FROZEN OUT. A TALE OF THE NICARAGUA CANAL. A. D. 19—. OME hither, little Britisher, and listen while I tell About the great climatic change that long ago befell. Take off your little Arctic shoes; hang up your reindeer hood ; And you shall have some blubber pie if you be nice and good. ‘T was in the old and wicked days your Uncle Sam began To dig his great canal beside the river San Juan, And when they saw him work so hard and get along so slow, The foreign nations laughed ha! ha! and eke they laughed ho! ho! But when the work was done at last and he began to build His mighty forts on either side, with anger they were filled. They met in hasty conference one morning at Berlin, The very day that he had fixed to let the water in. And as the water and the talk did simultancous flow, The Caribbean Sea ran dry and the Gulf of Mexico. The great Gulf Stream which used to wash and warm all Europe free Was siphoned through the new canal into the Southern Sea. Next day a little cablegram covered with ice and snow Came staggering over to Sandy Hook, and this its tale of woe: A wave of more than Arctic cold had suddenly ariz, In spite of grammar or precedent, and the whole of Europe friz, ay Titled. oa gy comicbooks.com