of a child in a cradle. And speaking of cats reminds me of the line 

 in another " Croaker," "and like a torn cat die by inches." For this 

 I had a picture of a cat caught by the paw in a steel trap. These are 

 things it would be almost impossible to duplicate. But the best thing 

 in the " Croakers" is an illustration in the poem "To Simon" of the 

 line : " Buy a new eye-glass and become a dandy and a gentleman." 

 "Simon" was a gentleman of color, the favorite pastry cook of New 

 York half a century ago. In my copy I had here inserted a print from 

 La Fontaine, representing a gallantly dressed man viewing his figure 

 in a mirror, and I had got a friend to blacken his face and hands in 

 water color, but he has no "eye-glass." I have been some years illus- 

 trating another copy of the same work, which is still unfinished, and 

 for this passage I have now a fine print of a colored gentleman, dressed 

 in "tights" and a ruffled shirt, viewing a lady of African descent 

 through an eye-glass. It would be impossible to improve on that. I 

 recollect I once wanted to illustrate the phrase " seeing the elephant," 

 and found what I needed in a picture of Pyrrhus trying to frighten his 

 captive, Fabricius, by suddenly drawing the curtains of his tent and 

 showing him an elephant with trunk uplifted in a threatening attitude. 

 You remember the Roman General " didn't scare worth a cent." A moug 

 the hardest things to find were a treadmill and a drum major; I got the 

 latter out of Frank Leslie's newspaper and the former from a pamphlet _ 

 published many years ago on the proposed use of the tread-mill in our 

 State prisons. I have also found apt illustrations for the following 

 queer subjects, all in "The Croakers:" Korah, Dathan and 

 Abiram; "Miss Atropos, shut up your scissors;" "Albany's two 

 steeples high in air ; " Reading Cobbett's " Register ; " " Bony in His 

 Prison Isle;" « Giant Wife ; " "Beauty and the Beast;" "Fly 

 Market;" "Tammany Hall;" "The Dove from Noah's Ark;" 

 "Rome Saved by Geese;" « Ca?sar Offered a Crown;" "Caesar 

 Crossing the Rubicon;" "Dick Ricker's Bust;" "Sancho in His 

 Island Reigning;" "The Wisest of Wild Fowl;" "Reynold's Beer 

 House;" "A Mummy;" "A Chimney Sweep;" "The Arab's 

 Wind;" "Pygmalion;" "Danaaa;" "Highland Chieftain W T ith His 

 Tail On;" "Nightmare;" "Shaking Quakers;" "Polony's Crazy 

 Daughter;" "Bubble Blowing;" "First Pair of Breeches;" 

 "Bauquo's Ghost;" "Press Gang," etc. To illustrate those ideas 

 requires a knowledge of history, biography, mythology, local typog- 

 raphy, romance, the drama and the Bible. 



Discrimination should be used in selecting a book for illustration. 

 The book should not be a mere vehicle. It should be a favorite 

 author, or a classic, or the life of a famous man, or a book peculiarly 



