Life cycle, Human

A folding fan opens to display “the seven ages of dope,” beginning on the left with a nurse attending to an infant, passing through childhood and adulthood, to old age, and culminating with a coffin-shaped closure for the fan. In the foreground is a row of containers for various types of adulterated products, and in the background are drug producing factories.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Cartoonist S. D. Ehrhart’s moralistic cartoon is a play upon the very popular “Seven Ages Of Man,” from William Shakespeare’s Seven Ages of Man (infant, school-boy, lover, soldier, justice, “lean and splintered pantaloon,” and second childishness), issued at the time in framed prints, portfolios, and books.

Two men ride bicycles. One is just starting out on life’s journey, being towed by Father Time. The second one is nearing the end of life’s journey and about to get caught by a scythe and thrown from the bicycle into a grave. Milestones and signs mark the journey: in youth there is “Health,” between 20 and 30 there is “Happiness,” at 40 there is “Pleasure,” at 50 “Hope,” at 60 there is “Neglect,” between 60 and 70 there are “Regrets” and “Sickness,” at 80 there is “Fear,” and at 90 is an open grave with an owl perched on the mile-marker. At the top center is a “Half Way House” and at bottom center, in a floral arrangement, is an hourglass on top of a clock.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-07-11

Vignettes depict the craze for cigar bands and the various ways in which they can be used to celebrate special occasions, such as getting married, the birth of a child, a holiday turkey dinner, on clothing to identify a family, as collectibles, and as a closure for a coffin. Caption: Dedicated to the gent who smokes ’em with the belts on.

comments and context

Comments and Context

As Puck magazine’s color centerspreads were increasingly given over to humorous cartoons, usually vignettes of commentary on a social, not political, issue of the day, the three cartoonists usually handling the assignments were S. D. Ehrhart, L. M. Glackens, and J. S Pughe.