A Distinction Without a Difference [with] Honest Push in Business

The funny papers from the late 19th century.

This amusing group of double cartoon and contemporary advertisements (note the asbestos materials) was issued as a single sheet in the September 1, 1877 issue of Harper’s Weekly magazine.

The left scene shows an armchair general looking over a complex map of operations in the ongoing Russo-Turkish war. In the caption, his daughter explains that the sheet is actually a fabric pattern from Harper’s Bazaar (clever bit of cross-promotion). The cartoon on the right side highlights the persistence of sales people, even in the worst of circumstances. A ‘canvasser’ is attempting to sell a lightning rod to a shipwrecked sailor adrift at sea!