The Wasp — 1895 — page 846: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon depicts two men aboard a ship, apparently lawyers based on the caption. The passenger asks the captain if he's seen any sharks, joking that only "the two down in the saloon playing 'freezeout'" for drinks are sharks—meaning the lawyers themselves are the real sharks. The satire targets a common period stereotype: lawyers as predatory figures who exploit situations for profit, metaphorically "circling" clients like sharks. The "freezeout" card game reference suggests these lawyers are also gamblers, reinforcing their characterization as untrustworthy and self-serving. This reflects late-19th-century American skepticism toward the legal profession, portraying lawyers as more dangerous to ordinary people than literal sharks.