Puck's Cartoons. The Dog and the Shadow

This short poem or "fable" appeared in the August 8, 1877 issue of PUCK Magazine as lesson for strikers.

PUCK'S CARTOONS

THE DOG AND THE SHADOW.

A FABLE.

You've heard of that untutored dog who saw,
Reflected in a brook by which he stood,
His meat; determined to appease his maw,
He quickly clutched the shadow of his food,
And lost, as well one supposed he'd do,
His solid dinner and the shadow too.

To point the moral which we thus obtain,
Let's take the thoughtless laborer in view,
Who daily holds one dollar as his gain,
Which he would double if a plan he knew;
Clutching the shadow tempting to his sight,
Will he not lose the one now by his right?