The Wasp, 1918 · page 26 of 330
The Wasp — 1918 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page presents a narrative scene rather than a political cartoon. It depicts a dialogue between James Burnham (a merchant) and a shipmaster named Hobkirk, who encounter a pirate vessel at sea. The scene plays on a character-type familiar to 19th-century readers: the merchant who discovers he possesses hidden martial instincts. When Burnham sees the pirate ship, his violent reaction shocks the shipmaster, who observes he "looked as wicked as any red pirate" and suggests he's "wasted as a merchant" and should fight "for yer king." The satire appears to mock both mercantile society and militaristic values—questioning whether profitable commerce or patriotic warfare represents proper manhood. Burnham's defensive claim that he's "no fire-eater" undercuts the shipmaster's assessment, suggesting ironic commentary on masculine identity and social expectations in maritime England.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE WASP 17 upon the schooner astern in a hard, dancing, cross-glinting 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 fluttered swiftly. ‘ “YT enjoy a fight—none better,” he said. “That is the first pirate ship I’ve ever seen, and it excited me for a moment.” “Excited you!’ said the mariner. “ Yes, but Pll 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.’ - Burnham laughed again and laid a lend on _ Hobkirk’s shoulder. - _ “Qh, I’m no fire-eater, my friend,” he a - lightly ; “but I have heard stories of those _ gentry astern that set my teeth on edge to be at comichooks.com