Puck — October 15, 1879 — page 8: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains four separate comic strips satirizing funeral expenses and working-class financial struggles. The narratives follow characters named Pat and others confronting the high costs of funerals—a significant economic burden for poor families. **Key themes:** - A priest advises spending money on masses rather than expensive funerals - A character considers buying an expensive casket despite financial hardship - A father promises his son "a bully funeral" despite lacking funds The satire targets the funeral industry's exploitation of grief and the moral pressure placed on poor families to spend beyond their means for "proper" burials. The comics mock both undertakers' greed and the cultural/religious expectations that trap working people in debt during mourning. The page title "OUR COST" emphasizes economic hardship as the central concern.