The Wasp, 1918 · page 107 of 330
The Wasp — 1918 — page 107: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This appears to be a dramatic scene from a serialized story rather than a political cartoon. The narrative concerns reputation and blackmail in Victorian or Edwardian society. **The situation:** A man named Stanton confronts Mrs. Black about Kitty's background. Mrs. Black has revealed that Kitty's father is a tailor in Wantage and that a gentleman (James Burnham, son of Sir Walter Burnham) knows her from there—implying impropriety that threatens Kitty's "delicate reputation." **The satire's point:** Stanton's response exposes class-based hypocrisy. He's unconcerned about the social transgression itself, only that discretion be maintained among gentlemen. His threat to Mrs. Black—"keep your mouth shut, too"—suggests that scandal suppression through intimidation protects the privileged while silencing the working classes (represented by the tailor). The joke targets how Victorian gentility relied on mutual silence rather than actual virtue.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
08 _ THE WASP for this former acquaintance of Kitty’s, this — gentleman at Government House—bah, I care no more for him than I do for your venerable papa in the village churchyard. I have already met him. Your delicate reputation has nothing to fear from him, I assure you. But where is” Kitty ? Take me to her.” — : * “You have met him?” cried Mrs. Black. “And you have no fear of what he knows? _ And yet Kitty has confessed to me that he knew her in Wantage, where she was the — ” “‘ What’s that ?”’? roared Stanton, laying vio- lent hold of the woman’s plumpshoulders. “What lie:is this you have frightened out of her ? ” Mrs. Black was cowed. The colour dropped | from her long face. ‘“¢ She—she said that her father is the tailor of Wantage, and—and this gentleman is a son of Sir Walter Burnham, of Burnham,” stammered the woman. “Is that all ?.” exclaimed Stanton. “Well, what of that? This James Burnham knows me, too—and I knowhim. He’ll keep his mouth shut about the tailor of Wantage, I promise you! All that you have te do, madam, is to — keep your mouth shut, too.’ a With that he shook the wife of his senior comichooks.con