Mother Goose to date
Subject(s): Currency question, Democratic Party (U.S.), Parker, Alton B. (Alton Brooks), 1852-1926, Political parties--Platforms, Presidents--Election, Sheep
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Alton B. Parker as “Little Bopeep” sits on a rock labeled “Esopus,” tending a flock of sheep labeled “Gold Democrat” with their tails labeled “Vote.” The sheep are entering a pasture labeled “Democratic Fold – Four Years of Clover.” A ribbon tied to the shepherd’s crook states “Gold Standard.” Includes verse: Little Bopeep has lost her sheep, / But she doesn’t have to mind them. / Let ’em alone and they’ll come home / And bring their tails behind them.
Comments and Context
This cartoon is a textbook example of wishful thinking. Puck had advocated for years that an alternative be found in the Democratic Party — a conservative who advocated in the Gold Standard and “Sound Money,” instead of the radical Populist William Jennings Bryan, the presidential standard-bearer in 1896 and 1900.
In 1904, the obscure New York State judge Alton Brooks Parker fit the bill of Democrats who had been out of power for eight years. As nominee, he rejected many of Bryan’s stands. Democratic leaders and journals, like Puck, envisioned — or fantasized — that a reformer and sound-money advocate not named Roosevelt would enchant the country and return Democratic voters, like sheep (hardly a flattering analogy), to fields of clover. Esopus, by the way, refers to the small town and farm at which Parker lived in upstate New York.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1904-10-19
Creator(s)
Period
U.S. President – 1st Term (September 1901-February 1905)
Repository
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Page Count
1
Record Type
Image
Resource Type
Rights
These images are presented through a cooperative effort between the Library of Congress and Dickinson State University. No known restrictions on publication.
Citation
Cite this Record
Chicago:
Mother Goose to date. [October 19, 1904]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277865. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Hamilton, Grant E.. Mother Goose to date. [19 Oct. 1904]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 12, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277865.
APA:
Hamilton, Grant E.., [1904, October 19]. Mother Goose to date.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277865.
Cite this Collection
Chicago:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 12, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs.
APA:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs.
