First, note how the Catholic children and the priest are depicted as baboon-like creatures.  This Thomas Nast cartoon, which appeared in Harpers, refers to a Bible-in-the-schools controversy that erupted in Long Island City, Queens, in 1875. The school board had required children to read from the King James Version; Catholic students could either sit in the room during the exercise or leave for the day. In a gutsy form of civil disobedience, the Catholic children responded by blocking their ears as the principal read from the Bible. As the weeks went on, some students also shouted, “I don’t believe in that!” They kick the Holy Bible in the air as a bishop looks on with a sinister grin.