The Wasp, 1918 · page 288 of 330
The Wasp — 1918 — page 288: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page depicts a dramatic domestic violence scene from what appears to be a serialized fiction story rather than a satirical cartoon. The narrative describes a man named Stanton abusing his wife Kitty with a "supple-jack" (a flexible West Indian cane), when James Burnham, a bearded sailor, enters unexpectedly. The scene emphasizes Kitty's deterioration—she's unrecognizable from her former self in London or Nevis months prior, now thin, pale, and weeping with a torn dress. The dimly-lit, sordid tableau creates dramatic tension as the two men become "motionless as figures of wax" before Stanton rushes at the intruder. **What modern readers miss:** Without seeing the cover or earlier pages, the satirical or political context remains unclear. *The Wasp* typically combined fiction with social commentary, but this excerpt reads as straightforward melodrama rather than satire, leaving the underlying point unexplained by this page alone.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
a het THE WASP 279 threshold. He halted just within the room swaying on his feet and surveying the depressing and dramatic scene with a drunken leer. The woman who sobbed was Kitty—but not the blooming Kitty that he had known of old in London, or a few short months ago in Nevis. Her plentiful hair streamed untidily upon her shoulders, her small face was thin and pale, her eyes were dim and her lids swollen from much weeping, and her gown was torn. She was on her feet beside an overturned chair, trying to wrench herself free from her husband. Stanton held her by one thin wrist with his left hand, and in his right hand he grasped a stick of that flexible West Indian plant called supple-jack. His hand was raised to strike at the instant of James Burnham’s entrance. The two became motionless as figures of wax at the opening of the door; and so they stood fora . time as if spellbound, staring at the bearded and intoxicated mariner. The scene was dimly illuminated by two tallow dips which stood on a _ table near the overturned chair. Stanton was the first.to move. He dropped the woman’s wrist and rushed unsteadily at the intruder with a volley of oaths. The bearded ‘seaman stepped aside with amazing agility for comichbooks.com