Life — June 7, 1883 — page 13: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon depicts a confrontation on ship's stairs. The steward addresses a suffering passenger, saying "You mustn't be sick on the stairs, sir" while the passenger retorts that the steward should stop using the stairs to make himself pleasurable—suggesting the steward is deliberately causing discomfort to passengers. The joke satirizes the tension between ship's crew and passengers during an era of sea travel, likely highlighting poor service conditions or crew indifference to passenger suffering (possibly seasickness). The title "The Last Straw" suggests this is the final indignity in a series of complaints. The accompanying poem "Mine Ain Angus" by Sandy McQuintock appears to be unrelated Scottish verse, common filler content in Life magazine of this period.