"The Soldier's Tear"–Old Song

A British marine weeps because he fears the fighting in South Africa will end before he gets there–the Anglo-Zulu war lasted only six months. Text published with the related wood engraving, probably in Punch, sheds further light on the image:

Officer (to Royal Marine who has just been inspected to go to Zululand): 'What's that man crying for? What are you crying for, Sir?'

Joe: 'Boo-hoo! Wha's the good o' goin' now? We ought to a' gone a year ago!' (Exit, sobbing, to canteen).

Keene worked for Punch between 1864 and 1890 as one of its most popular illustrators. In fact, the German artist Adolph von Menzel subscribed to the British periodical because he so enjoyed Keene's mages.

Credit: Rogers Fund, 1924