An 1876 cartoon by Thomas Nast about the public school debate at the time.

The "wolf at the door" is the Democrats, wearing a dog tag that says "foreign Roman church,". School children are holding the door, trying to keep the wolf out.

The sign says: "The public-school system is the bulwark of the American republic and for its security the application of public funds to sectarian purposes should be forbidden - Republican declaration".

135 years later, isn't a similar debate (with differing views) still going on in the U.S.? As Shakespeare said, "there's nothing new under the sun."

The political cartoon appeared in Harper's Weekly and the title was "Wolf at the door, gaunt and hungry" - Don't let him in"

Courtesy of the Library of Congress