_PUNCH_ CARTOONS _of the_ GREAT WAR _NEW YORK : : : MCMXV GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY_ CONTENTS Page The Days Preceding the War 7 The Struggle 39 Uncle Sam 93 The Comedies of the Great Tragedy 105 Women and Children First 135 The New Rake's Progress--Unser Kaiser 151 The Raider 173 The Unspeakable Turk 181 Italia! 207 THE DAYS PRECEDING THE WAR [Illustration: A WISE WARNING] Dædalus Bismarck (_Political Parent of_ Wilhelm Icarus). "My son, observe the middle path to fly, And fear to sink too low, or rise too high. Here the sun melts, there vapours damp your force, Between the two extremes direct your course. "Nor on the bear, nor on boötes gaze, Nor on sword-arm'd orion's dangerous rays: But follow me, thy guide, with watchful sight, And, as I steer, direct thy cautious Flight." OVID, _"Metamorphoses," Book VIII., Fable III._ October 6, 1888. [Illustration: THE HAUNTED SHIP (Twenty-five years after "Dropping the Pilot.") Ghost of the Old Pilot. "I Wonder if He Would Drop Me _NOW_!" (April 1st is the hundredth anniversary of BISMARCK'S birth.) March 31, 1915.] [Illustration: L'ENFANT TERRIBLE Chorus in the Stern. "Don't Go On Like That--or You'll Upset Us All!!" May 10, 1890.] [Illustration: THE IMPERIAL JACK-IN-THE-BOX Chorus (_Everybody_). "Everything in Order Everywhere! O! What a Surprise! Sold Again!" January 20, 1893.] [Illustration: THE MODERN ALEXANDER'S FEAST; OR, THE POWER OF SOUND] "With ravished ears, The Monarch hears, Assumes the God, Affects to nod, And seems to shake the spheres!" March 5, 1892. [Illustration: THE STORY OF FIDGETY WILHELM (_Up-to-date version of "Struwwelpeter."_)] "Let me see if Wilhelm can Be a little gentleman; Let me see if he is able To sit still for once at table!" "But fidgety Will He won't sit still." Just like any bucking horse. "Wilhelm! We are getting cross!" February 1, 1896. [Illustration: A NEW RÔLE IMPERIAL "MANAGER-ACTOR" (_who has cast himself for a leading part in "Un Voyage en Chine," sotto voce_). "Um--Ha! With just a few additional touches here and there, I shall make a first-rate Emperor of China!" January 15, 1898.] [Illustration: ON TOUR (_Tangier, March 31._) KAISER WILHELM (_as the Moor of Potsdam_) _sings_:-- "'Unter den Linden'--always at Home, 'Under the Lime-light' wherever I roam!" April 5, 1905.] [Illustration: COOK'S CRUSADER