The Wasp, 1913 · page 26 of 364
The Wasp — 1913 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains serialized fiction rather than a political cartoon. It depicts a scene between James Burnham (a merchant) and a shipmaster who encounter a pirate vessel at sea. The passage reveals Burnham's passionate, aggressive nature—his intense physical reaction to seeing the pirate ship causes the shipmaster to remark that Burnham appears "as wicked as any red pirate" himself. The mariner then suggests Burnham is naturally suited for military service ("fightin' for yer king") rather than merchant work, implying he's wasted in commerce given his obvious warrior temperament. The text appears to be satirizing class assumptions about aptitude and occupation—that a man with Burnham's evident fighting spirit and aggressive nature belongs in combat rather than business, questioning whether peaceful commercial life suits those with martial inclinations. Without seeing illustrations or knowing the broader narrative context, the specific satirical target remains unclear.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE WASP 25 _He glanced at his passenger, then stared at him with round eyes. Burnham’s gaze was fixed upon the schooner astern in a hard, dancing, cross-glint- ing glare. His white teeth gleamed between his twisted lips. His cheeks shone white. The veins stood out on his forehead and the artery pulsed in his neck. He breathed heavily. “Lord, sir!’ exclaimed the shipmaster. “Ye look as if ye’d jump the taffr’il to be at their throats.” James Burnham swallowed hard, laughed, and turned his back on the schooner. His eyelids flut- tered swiftly. “I enjoy a fight—none better,” he said. “That is the first pirate ship ve ever seen, and it excited me for a moment.” “Excited you!” said the mariner. “Yes, but I'll swear it didn’t fright ye. Bless my soul, sir, but ye looked as wicked as any red pirate yerself for a minute. A fighter, as I see—and I didn’t suspect it before. Ye should be fightin’ for yer king, that ye should. Ye'll be wasted as a merchant, sir.” Comichooks.com