Puck, 1879-09-17 · page 5 of 16
Puck — September 17, 1879 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a continuation of a serialized satirical story featuring "Troddledums," a monkey character causing mayhem in a household. The narrative follows the primate's destructive rampage through various rooms and domestic spaces. The satire appears to mock human pretension and social order by showing how a single chaotic creature can disrupt an orderly Victorian household. The detailed illustrations depict Troddledums creating havoc—overturning baskets, tangling with pets, and generally wreaking destruction—with accompanying verse describing each scene. Without additional context about which specific public figures or events "Troddledums" represents, I cannot identify the political satire with certainty. The humor relies on slapstick animal chaos rather than obvious political allegory on this particular page.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
PUCK. TRODDLEDUMS, THE SIMIAN. - NCE Troddledums in quietude Upon a chicken drumstick chewed; Near him a clothes-pin and a wrench-— A basket stood upon a bench, A basket that had lost its bottom— Baskets have usually got em. While in the background distant, dim, ge and envy frowned on him The feline Sam, the canine Jim. And like the bursting of a dam ‘The canine Jim, the feline Sam Rush for the Troddledums and muss ‘The hair of that poor Simian cuss, And claw him up promiscuous. Unto the bench-top doth he go— The while the allies how! below. He grasps the basket, and with fear, ‘The two sneak softly to the rear, Nor seem inclined to come more near. PART VI. But Troddledums, upon his throne, | Then he turns his attention to Jim, who alone, Ties a string to his chicken-bone, Is walking off with the chicken-bone, —~ jem Se G, his claws upon Jimuel’s tail Down by the end of the staircase rail; And in this way, with air demure, Contrives his feline foe to lure Till that dog feels dizzy about the brain, And then he swings him around again, Then into it— extra twist-turn, nded over the cistern. But Samuel never getteth through it. For Troddledums falls like a thunderbolt; As they sayin New England, he’s «got a holt.” And then with his monkey-wrench, as aboov, He sets to work those claws to remove. And if anything hurts a cat like thunder It’s to pull out her nails—and wedon't much wonder. | | | This done, he fastens that cat tight in, With the aid of her tail and the stray clothes-pin [More Hereafter. comicbooks.com