Conservation, Graphics

$500

“Death on the Striped Pig” is a satirical print commenting on the Temperance Reform movement during the 19th century. The striped pig, representing drinking men, is ridden by the grim reaper and seen stampeding within a pigpen. The pig’s hind feet are standing upon the Holy Bible and a book labeled Statutes, while trampling a mother and child with its front feet. Drunken and dismembered men are sprawled on the ground in the pigpen, showing the effects of the pig. On the ground are boxes labeled American Temperance Union, Temperance Tracts, Sargents Tales, and Beechers Sermons. A list entitled Deaths by Intemperance also lies opened on the ground. Onlookers gather outside of the fence enclosing the pig. They are poking the striped pig with wooden planks marked Moral suasian and Prohibitory Law, which have little effect of the pig. One left of the pen is a shop selling bottles of alcohol. A customer dressed in rags is drinking at the bar. From a window above the bar the devil surveys the scene and remarks: “Go it Striped! You are the best servant I ever sent into the field.” At right a wall bordering the pigpen is made up of large stone blocks labeled Spirit of the Age, Religion, Common Sense, Reason, Parental Affection, General Education, Love, Truth, etc. In the background of the cartoon is the capitol building over which a flag flies, labeled Law of 1838 in reference to Massachusetts’ April 19, 1838 law that attempted to curtail drinking.