The Wasp, 1913 · page 45 of 364
The Wasp — 1913 — page 45: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This appears to be a serialized adventure narrative rather than a political cartoon. The text describes James Burnham, a castaway, being rescued by a Boston-bound ship and encountering its moralistic captain. The satire lies in the shipmaster's character: a pious, judgmental New England Calvinist who delivers sanctimonious lectures about sin and divine providence while scrutinizing Burnham's appearance for signs of moral corruption. The captain's exaggerated dialect and self-righteous moralizing—warning against "ungodliness, roistering, an' high-bellied living"—appears to mock hypocritical religious zeal and Puritan prudishness common in New England. The humor relies on the gap between the captain's sanctimony and his calculating assessment of the stranger, suggesting that pious moralizing often masks ulterior motives or shallow character judgment.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
44 THE WASP James Burnham was taken aboard the brig, which proved to be an honest vessel from the New Eng- land town of Boston, bound for Barbados. The castaway sank upon the deck. There piping hot coffee and coarse sea fare from the galley were brought to him. The master of the brig, an elderly, lean person with a goatish beard and a long, shaven upper lip, watched him eat and drink with calculating regard, and then questioned him. Burnham told the true story of his adventure with Peter Queery. “Yer tale sounds likely enough, young man,” said the shipmaster in a curiously high, whining voice. “The devilment that goes on up an’ down this At- lantic sea, from Acadia in the north to Trinidad in the south, is an offense to heaven an’ a stench i’ the nostrils o’ the Almighty. But yer life has been spared to ’e, young man, a’ ye’d do well to dedicate it to the Lord. I kin see by the cast o’ yer counte- nance an’ the slant o’ yer eye that ye’ve bin bred in ungodliness, roistering, an’ high-bellied living; and yet yer tainted life was spared to ’e. Better men, Comichbooks.com