“His administration will be held notable, in days to come, not merely for its positive performances, its vetos of the infamous Silver Bill and the unconstitutional Chinese Act; but for its negative excellence. He has done his duty as he saw it. If he has made himself ridiculous by carrying the contemptibly small social practices of a little Ohio town into the wider sphere of life to which Fate has introduced him, it is a pardonable fault. Let us say for him, after all, that, considering the wretched way in which he got to be President, he has done far too well with his chances to be snubbed by men in such equivocal positions as Messrs. Grant and Conkling.” [Illustration] A HARMLESS EXPLOSION. _PUCK, May 25th, 1881._ Mr. Conkling’s resignation to the Senate, in hope of re-election under circumstances which would have made such a triumph a severe rebuke to President Garfield, proved to be, as most people foresaw, the end of his political career. But, at the time, there were plenty of people to applaud his act and to liken his resignation to a “bombshell” thrown into the Senate. It was a sort of fireworks bombshell that destroyed nothing but itself, but it made a great noise for the moment. Mr. T. C. Platt chose at the same time to pop his toy balloon, and probably thought that it made part of the noise. [Illustration] PUCK’S POLITICAL HUNTING GROUND.--HOW HE HAS MADE GAME OF THE POLITICIANS. _PUCK, January 14th, 1885._ The first cartoons were doubtless chalked on dead walls, and even when the art reached a higher development, sticking to walls remained the cheapest and most convenient method of publication. It is often a test of a cartoon’s worth to-day--its suitability as a wall-decoration. It is a natural and simple impulse that moves us to pin on the wall the picture that has pleased us. Readers of PUCK who travel much in this country can not but notice how many people delight in pasting and pinning their favorite cartoons to the walls of their offices and workshops, and even of their dwelling-houses. A really popular cartoon is always sure of these humble but well-meant honors; and, curiously enough, experience has shown that next to the really telling “hit,” a playful, familiarly puzzling trifle like “PUCK’S Political Hunting-Ground,” if it is conceived with some grace and prettiness, is the most certain of this sort of popular favor. This particular picture was, no doubt, made attractive to many by the simple puzzle afforded by the faces of the animals. As, however, the passing of time must make some of these faces unfamiliar, it may be well to offer the following key--first calling attention to the fact that all the personages introduced were at the moment, in one way or another, at odds with fortune--except the late Mr. Jay Gould, who is figured as a bird of prey (in a general way, and with no over-particular ornithological accuracy) comfortably bearing off a lamb. The fact that this one figure