A washerwoman stands next to a bucket of "bleeding hearts" and pins hearts onto a clothes-line. Her dress billows up in the back. Behind her is a tub labeled "cold water" and a container labeled "soft soap." The valentine references the water cure movement. The border features a woman embracing a man; the pair resemble Commedia dell'arte characters. At the bottom is a pack of matches marked "Lucifer's matches.", Text: Ho! all ye lovers pale and wan, / Who of your bleeding hearts complain, / For you my trade I carry on / And from soiled hearts remove each stain. / Come one, come all!-- hearts smoothed and pressed / And safely folded in the Chest., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
Critique of the social climate of the year of 1855 mocking several of the year's fads, social movements, and major events, many specific to the city of Philadelphia. Depicts several individual scenes occurring on an active street lined by businesses near a river. Depictions include: a scene representing the case of Jane Johnson, an African American woman freedom seeker aided by abolitionist Passmore Williamson; a group of ragged and armed white men filibusters holding the banner "Sam" rushing off to free Central America from European control; a stand where one is "allowed to drink 48 glasses of Lager Beer" where a white man police officer tries to stop a white man drunkard; a group of white women Mormons on a cart headed to "Salt Lake City"; a white man hugging two white women as his angry wife looks on and calls them "Ceresco free-lovers" after the Utopian society that lasted until 1855; two motley groups of local militias drilling; a caricature of the popular French actress Rachel who had an inauspicious debut in Philadelphia; and groups of individuals partaking of "water cures" and "sea baths." In the background the Camden Amboy train crash of 1855 is depicted as well as the destruction by fire of the Philadelphia steamer "John Stevens.", Title from item., Date inferred from content., Accessioned 1998., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date
[1855?]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1855-Fol [P.9624]
