The Wasp, 1913 · page 103 of 364
The Wasp — 1913 — page 103: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page appears to be from a serialized narrative rather than a political cartoon. The text describes a character named Burnham who, after gambling success, decides to marry Elizabeth Nash to secure his financial future and hide his disreputable past from exposure. The plot hinges on dramatic irony: Burnham has just committed to this marriage scheme when a naval frigate unexpectedly arrives in the roadstead. Officers from the frigate and a relief company of the Sixty-second Regiment begin paying respects to the governor—suggesting Burnham's past may be about to catch up with him. Without seeing illustrations on this page, the satire likely targets themes common to *The Wasp*'s social commentary: opportunistic fortune-hunters, class pretension, or the vulnerability of respectable families to deception. The arrival of military personnel suggests an impending revelation that will disrupt Burnham's plans.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
100 THE WASP or Elizabeth. By lucky play he increased his twenty-five guineas to one hundred. So three weeks passed pleasantly and without ac- cident, and Burnham studied Elizabeth Nash sedu- lously every day. At the end of the three weeks he was quite certain that she was in love with him. So he decided to win her, to marry her, before any possibility of his exposure. Once married to her, he would be safe from starvation, at the worst. A post of some sort would be found for him, and it would be to his father-in-law’s interest to keep tight lips on the story of his past. Burnham came to this decision late at night, and the first news that he heard next morning was that a frigate had but just let go her anchors in the roadstead. With the assistance of his valet he made short work of an elaborate toilet. Within half an hour of joining the governor the commander of the frigate and a number of other officers arrived to pay their respects. Five of these callers belonged to a relief company of the Sixty-second Regiment, Comichooks.com