Father Time Lays a New Brick

This single-panel cartoon depicts Father Time as an aged, bearded figure constructing a brick wall marked with consecutive years (1885–1888). The image uses the visual language emerging in newspaper comics of the era: a unified composition with a clear focal point, expressive linework via cross-hatching, and allegorical figuration common to editorial and humorous illustration. The chronological bricks serve as the gag's mechanism—time literally building itself forward. Such allegorical personifications appeared regularly in newspapers alongside developing sequential narratives, establishing visual conventions that would anchor the comic strip form. The work reflects the period when newspapers began consistently publishing illustrated humor, laying groundwork for the comic pages that would emerge as distinct sections in Sunday editions.