The secession bubble. "It must burst" / J.H. Bufford's Lith., Boston.

A genre scene with a pointed political reference. A black girl, probably the child of slaves, plays with a soap pipe in a garden. Beyond the garden fence, in a landscape with palmettos, a fortress flying a Confederate flag is visible. The child, clearly delighted by the soap bubbles she has blown, pauses to look at the viewer. In a large bubble (upper left) is a reflection of her face. A tattered straw bonnet lies on the ground at left, and on the right a small dog starts at the sight of the bubble. In a pond before the child floats a toy boat, possibly a disparaging allusion to the Confederate navy and its recent successes in privateering and blockade running. The print shares marked similarities in drawing style and technique with Fabronius's 1863 lithograph for Bufford, "The Mower" (no. 1863-14).

"Entered ... 1862 by J. H. Bufford ..."
The Library's impression was deposited for copyright on May 1, 1862.
Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1862-12.