The Wasp, 1913 · page 122 of 364
The Wasp — 1913 — page 122: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains **narrative fiction rather than a political cartoon**. It appears to be part of a serialized romantic story published in *The Wasp*, a 19th-century American satirical magazine. The text describes a dramatic domestic scene involving characters named Kitty, James Burnham, and Elizabeth Nash. A male character comforts a weeping woman (Kitty), assuring her he has "silenced" Burnham and holds power over him—implying blackmail or coercion regarding some shameful past. The passage concludes with Burnham himself reading poetry in a rose garden with another woman. **Without seeing the accompanying illustration(s)**, the satirical intent is unclear. The content may mock romantic melodrama, social hypocrisy, or Victorian propriety conventions. The dramatic tension (threats, affairs, secrets) suggests social satire, but the specific targets remain uncertain without visual evidence or additional context about *The Wasp's* editorial focus.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
re ES THE WASP 119 and wine. Such manliness as he had been born the possessor of had not yet been dissipated by stupid and vicious living. He tried to comfort her, kissing her wet cheeks and eyelids and whispering into her shell-like ear that she had nothing to fear from James Burnham. He assured her that he had Burnham completely silenced and in his power, that Burnham could as ill afford to refer to the past as she could. Kitty ceased weeping and sighed. She opened her blue eyes, slipped her tender arms about her lover’s neck, and thanked him with a kiss. The shadows were long in the narrow streets and painted gardens and a cool breeze fanned in from the sea. James Burnham sat in the rose gar- den with Elizabeth Nash and read aloud to her from a book of verses. Comichooks.com