The Wasp — 1878 — page 251: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a sequential comic strip from *The Wasp* depicting an anthropomorphic crow's misadventures with wine. The narrative follows the bird from discovering a bottle, drinking excessively, becoming intoxicated, and eventually suffering consequences—collapsing, being revived, and finally receiving a moral warning from a woman about his behavior. The satire targets alcoholism and drunkenness through animal humor. The crow's escalating inebriation, slapstick physicality, and ultimate comeuppance reflect 19th-century American attitudes about alcohol excess as both comedic and morally instructive. The final panels, showing the crow disciplined and warned, reinforce temperance messaging common to the era's satirical publications.