The Wasp — 1914 — page 280: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains a speech by Alexander (surname unclear from image) defending his brother James against social condemnation. James had engaged in piracy or privateering—disreputable but apparently not uncommon activity. Alexander attempts to rehabilitate James's reputation by noting he participated in the *Tartar's* battle with a French vessel and helped save a white schooner, suggesting military valor amid criminal enterprise. A letter James sent in a bottle was destroyed to protect the family. The satire lies in Alexander's apologetic tone: he's essentially admitting his brother is an "infamous" criminal while pleading for reduced judgment based on one heroic incident. The humor targets both James's actual crimes and Alexander's desperate, contradictory defense of the indefensible.