The Wasp — 1888 — page 71: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains two main satirical pieces: **"Johnny the Newsboy"** (left column): A narrative story mocking a impoverished boy selling newspapers. The satire targets the romanticization of poor children's labor and hardship, contrasting sentimental expectations ("Christmas tree at Sunday school") with grim reality—hunger, exploitation, and destitution. The story exposes how society ignores child poverty despite charitable rhetoric. **"To the Rural Legislator"** (right column): Satirical advice in verse form, mocking rural lawmakers' gullibility and hypocrisy regarding temperance, labor rights, and church morality. It suggests politicians make empty moral pronouncements while ignoring workers' actual conditions. **The cartoon** (center-right) shows a figure in bed with bottles and glass, illustrating themes of alcoholism or vice—likely supporting the "Rural Legislator" satire about temperance hypocrisy. The page's overall message critiques 19th-century social inequality and institutional hypocrisy.