The Wasp, 1913 · page 214 of 364
The Wasp — 1913 — page 214: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page appears to be narrative text rather than a political cartoon—it's prose fiction from *The Wasp*, a 19th-century American satirical magazine. The passage describes a dramatic scene involving a character named Trimmer, a Spanish bishop, and a woman named Hélène aboard what appears to be a ship. The scene depicts the bishop's death, treated darkly comic by Trimmer but received grimly by others (Wells, Burnham, and unnamed crew). The satire seems to target religious authority through the bishop's forced costume, physical weakness, and undignified death. References to "holding a candle to the powder" and the general brutality suggest this may be historical fiction critiquing Spanish colonialism or religious hypocrisy, though without additional context, the specific historical reference remains unclear.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
pe ae Ee THE WASP 209 ee ES SO ue a ON eae Trimmer soon reappeared, this time dragging the Spanish bishop at his heels. Behind the faint and reluctant prelate came Héléne, gowned in silk, wonderful and distracting to behold. “The man’s a fool,’ muttered Wells to Burnham. “He has gone mad overnight. He is holding a can- dle to the powder this minute.” The unfortunate ecclesiastic had been forcibly attired in his hot and costly robes of office. He was an old man, sore stricken with fever and terror. He slipped limply from the captain’s arms to the deck. Trimmer lifted him to his feet again—and, behold, he was dead! It was a capital joke. Trimmer laughed up- roariously, but keen ears detected a note of appre- hension in his laughter. No one else joined in his mirth. They were in so evil a mood that their eyes were blinded even to the humor of a dead bishop. - Oaths were muttered. James Burnham smiled ironically. _ Somebody sneered. The beautiful young woman, unmoved by the fate of the aged Comichooks.com