The Wasp — 1890 — page 412: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes military decoration practices from approximately 1864 (26 years before the 1890 publication). The image shows a figure wearing an exaggerated, oversized medal or decoration on their chest, being presented by a soldier on horseback. A caricatured officer grins while displaying this absurdly large "decoration." The satire likely mocks how Civil War-era military honors were awarded—suggesting they were disproportionately large, cheaply made, or awarded too liberally. The title's retrospective angle implies mockery of outdated or questionable decoration practices. A small dog and rural farmstead appear in the background, emphasizing the domestic, perhaps unglamorous context of these "frontline" honors. The overall tone is derisive toward military pretension.