The Wasp — 1892 — page 384: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains two distinct text sections rather than visual cartoons: **"Losing His Grip"** critiques a cowboy character's conduct on a train, describing how he shot into the platform and was "hanged at once" by cowboys who deemed such violence unacceptable—even among their own rowdy standards. The piece satirizes frontier lawlessness while suggesting cowboys maintained *some* code of conduct. **"A Very Live Corpse"** describes an operatic troupe's poor business luck in San Francisco. The narrator recounts acquiring a stuffed pigeon as a "mascot," which unexpectedly brought success. The piece mocks both the company's initial failure and the superstitious belief that a taxidermied bird improved their fortunes. Both pieces use humor to critique Victorian-era American society—frontier violence and cultural pretension respectively.