The Wasp — 1895 — page 706: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a satirical cartoon titled "What He Needed." Three men in period dress converse at what appears to be a waterfront or dock. The dialogue references German names (Beersweiger, Bukwormer), suggesting German immigrant characters—a common subject of American satire in the 1890s. The joke appears to center on hunting: one character needed "tree hundert points" (three hundred points, rendered in mock-German dialect) to successfully hunt game, but "they couldn't get him in mit der hearse"—meaning he died in the attempt. The final line darkly jokes that what he "needed" was a larger coffin, not better hunting equipment. This reflects period stereotypes about German immigrants and satirizes their hunting practices or competence.