Puck, 1877-04 · page 1 of 16
Puck — April 1877 — page 1: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical cartoon features John Morrissey as "Pecksniff," a character from Dickens's *Martin Chuzzlewit*. The image depicts Morrissey (the bearded man atop a signpost labeled "REFORM GOVERNMENT") directing two well-dressed gentlemen, who appear confused or skeptical. The satire mocks Morrissey's political leadership or reform promises as merely directional—all talk with no actual substance. The caption's Dickens reference reinforces this: like Pecksniff, Morrissey is portrayed as a hypocrite who "tells the way to a place, and never goes there." This likely critiques Morrissey's political stance or governance during the Reconstruction era, suggesting his reform rhetoric is dishonest performance rather than genuine commitment.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
New York, APRit 1877. “He was a Direction-Post, which is always telling the way to a place, and never goes there.” (See Dickens’ “ Martin Chusslewit.””) comicbooks.com