abstract Columbia and Uncle Sam , Great Britain by Britannia and John Bull, while Germany has been symbolized by the
Kaiser. In the case of Uncle Sam , it was long before the present accepted figure was finally evolved,70 but while it now varies in proportions and in the fit of the clothes, it is everywhere unmistakably Uncle Sam . But in the characteristic features of
prominent individuals the illustration is prone to exaggerate. Napoleon 's tri-cornered hat, Wellington 's large nose , Louis Philippe 's pear-shaped face, Disraeli's forehead curl, Bismarck's three hairs on the top of his head, the Kaiser's moustaches are
all recognized as having a reasonable element of truth behind the trifling exaggeration , but when Punch always represented John Bright, even after he had adopted the more ordinary coat and collar of the day , as wearing the Quaker coat he had once worn , in the broad -brimmed hat he had never worn , and with an
eye- glass that he never wore and never would have dreamt of wearing,71 the wilful exaggeration becomes historically misleading. Much of the conventional symbolism quickly becomes out worn and ceases to represent the types for which it was originally conceived ;— the symbol of the farmer as at first created, of the grandfather or the grandmother of an earlier day, no longer
represent the twentieth century persons of these classes and
since they continue to be used they are misleading and un critical.72 The symbolism developed by the recent war , as illustrated by Belgium represented as a prostrate or fainting woman ; Germany by a dachshund with helmet and in arrogant attitude; the Kaiser with halo in armed automobile , has all been
significant of contemporaneous opinion among the Allies, but with the close of the war it has become obsolete.73 On the other hand a symbol may in part remain basic while 70 Even as late as 1860, Uncle Sam was figured as Franklin , — “ Stephen
Finding His Mother," American Caricatures Pertaining to the Civil War; M . Sherwood , “ Uncle Sam ,” Atlantic Monthly, March, 1918 , 121: 330 - 333 ; V . Barbour, “ Uncle Sam ,” MS. 71 G . M . Trevelyan, John Bright, p. 107, Note. 72 Longfellow in the picture with “ grave Alice , laughing Allegra, and Edith with golden hair ” is represented as an elderly man , presumably because he is usually so represented and would not otherwise be recognized .
73 Life and Punch seemed especially prolific in creating symbols repre senting situations growing out of the war.
