The Wasp, 1913 · page 107 of 364
The Wasp — 1913 — page 107: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page depicts a confrontation between two men: Stanton and Mr. Burnham of Burnham. Stanton accuses Burnham of cheating him at dice in Swan Alley, calling out his "loaded dice." Burnham responds with aristocratic disdain, insulting Stanton's manner and proposing a duel in "his excellency's gardens"—a secluded spot where they could fight "discreetly" with witnesses present. The satire targets **class pretension and dishonest gentlemen**. Burnham's flowery, dismissive language ("porcine quality of your grunt") masks his willingness to fight over an insult, while his proposal for a "discreet" duel suggests elite hypocrisy: cheating at dice is acceptable, but being called out loudly is not. Stanton's outrage that he's invited to fight "a common cheat" highlights the contradiction—Burnham's refined manner cannot erase his actual criminality. The piece mocks how wealthy men maintained social facades while engaging in fraud.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
104 THE WASP “So that’s the line you take, is it?’ he whispered hotly. “You don’t know me, hey? ’Sblood, sir, I'll prick your failing memory for you! I’m one of the men you plucked in your own parlor in Swan Alley—with loaded dice. D’ye get that, my fine Mr. Burnham of Burnham?” “T hear you,” replied Burnham easily, with a slow smile on his lips and a flickering cross-gleam commencing to show in his gray eyes. “I hear you, and I don’t like the porcine quality of your grunt. After breakfast, my fine fellow, Ill take much pleasure in showing you the beauties of his excel- lency’s gardens. I know of a secluded spot much better suited than this room to the voicing of your ill-bred and unwarrantable assertions; and, if we each have a discreet friend in attendance, we’ll do very nicely!” “What?” exclaimed Stanton. “Am I invited to fight a common cheat?” “You are invited to make less noise,” retorted Burnham, smiling as if he were engaged in the most friendly conversation imaginable, but at the same Comichooks.com