The Wasp, 1913 · page 212 of 364
The Wasp — 1913 — page 212: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains narrative text rather than visual satire or cartoons. It appears to be from a serialized story in *The Wasp* magazine featuring characters aboard a ship: James Burnham, Captain John Trimmer, and Welsh Owen. The passage depicts a dangerous maritime setting where discipline has collapsed. Welsh Owen commits violence (knifing a man) unpunished, creating an atmosphere of fear and instability. Burnham sleeps with his knife close, anticipating treachery from shipmates. The text references a woman—apparently a woman of ill repute ("bird of paradise")—taken from a governor by someone named Hicks after killing the governor. The satire likely critiques lawlessness and brutality in maritime settings, or uses this violent shipboard environment to comment on social disorder. Without seeing earlier installments or knowing the publication date, the specific political allegory remains unclear.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SS THE WASP 207 lady of degree. She is not unknown. I have heard songs about her in more than one port. She is a sort of queen of her kind—a bird of paradise among fowl of her feather. Hicks went ashore and besieged a town for her, and took her from the governor, having first killed the governor.” James Burnham slept lightly that night. For the first time since joining the white schooner’s com- pany he felt that he was not safe from the treach- erous whim or secret grudge of a shipmate. Dis- cipline had relaxed for the first time since his join- ing. He had seen Welsh Owen knife a man in a fit of drunken rage and go unpunished. A spirit of unrest and uncertainty was in the air. The strong fingers of John Trimmer were relaxed for the mo- ment. So James slept lightly, with his hand on the haft of his knife. He congratulated himself on his luck when he awoke in the same world in which he had fallen asleep. Captain Trimmer appeared early, gorgeously at- tired, and informed the company that the sacra- Comichooks.com