_PUCK, June 7th, 1882._
In 1882 (June 7th), when “Uncle Sam’s Lodging House” was drawn, the
Irish “patriots,” who were trying to free their country by exploding
dynamite in public places, had made this country their base of
supplies, and were especially active in New York and Chicago. Their
lawlessness created much excitement, and if it had not been that there
was more bluster than performance about their pernicious liveliness
they might have involved us in a war with Great Britain, in which we
should certainly have lacked the moral support of our own conscience.
These gentry did not relish the stand PUCK took in the matter, and
their threats of reprisal by dynamite were frequent. The rate of letter
postage had some time previously been reduced from three to two cents.
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