The Wasp, 1913 · page 30 of 364
The Wasp — 1913 — page 30: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page appears to be prose fiction rather than a cartoon—a serialized story in the satirical magazine. It depicts a ship voyage where James Burnham, a man of apparent social pretension, assaults a crew mate, claiming the insult offended his "breeding." The ship's captain Hobkirk accepts this excuse and punishes the mate instead, treating Burnham as a gentleman deserving deference. The satire targets class hypocrisy: Burnham's violence is excused because he claims gentlemanly status, while the working-class mate faces punishment for perceived disrespect. The phrase "nice feelings of a man of breeding" is sarcastic—true gentlemen don't brutalize others. The introduction of Angus McLatchy suggests a new character embodying Protestant respectability (Bible and ledger equally important). The satire likely critiques how wealth and claimed social standing allow moral transgressions the working poor cannot commit with impunity.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE WASP 29 ute later. Burnham loosened his grip, and the mate slid limply to the deck. Burnham smiled at the shipmaster. “The fellow insulted me,” he explained coolly. “The lout does not comprehend the nice feelings of a man of breeding.” Hobkirk dragged the half-choked and utterly _cowed mate to his feet. “Ye be too ready to pick a quarrel with yer bet- ters, my lad,” he said. “I trust this here will larn ye a lesson. A man who raises the devil in a peace~- able gentleman like Mr. Burnham ought to be clapped into irons.” The long voyage terminated in an hour,—and James Burnham parted from Hobkirk and the crew on the best of terms. Mr. Boyle did not appear to wish him God-speed. He found Angus McLatchy to be a Scot of the most respectable type, long-faced, bleak-browed, dry of hand, everlastingly turning from his ledger _to his Bible and back again, and finding comfort and food for thought in both. Comichooks.com