The Wasp — 1914 — page 166: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page from *The Wasp* (a San Francisco satirical magazine) depicts a conversation about a brutal fistfight between someone named Stanton and a man named Burnham, described as "a son of old Walter Burnham" from a prominent "fighting strain" family. The satire appears to target the Burnham family's reputation for violence and their social standing. Dr. Hamm confidently predicts Burnham's victory based on family pedigree, dismissing Stanton as a "young soft" with no real chance. Willis confirms Burnham won the fight, though Stanton initially had advantage—the outcome supposedly determined when "the sun shone full into Burnham's eyes." The humor lies in the casual discussion of serious violence among the well-to-do, satirizing both aristocratic pretension and frontier brutality in 19th-century America.