The Wasp — 1893 — page 397: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a humorous sequential comic strip from *The Wasp* depicting a slapstick scenario involving a mounted rider and a horse. The numbered panels show: 1. A confident rider on horseback ("The start") 2. The horse bucking ("Guess I'll take a poem") 3. The rider being thrown ("Whoa! This is cold!") 4. A boy trying to catch the runaway horse ("Come on, old boy!") 5-6. Further chaos with the horse and rider 7. The disheveled aftermath ("Home, sweet home") 8. The exhausted horse at a hotel entrance ("Red lights and curtain") The joke appears to be a straightforward physical comedy narrative: an overconfident equestrian meets disaster through the horse's misbehavior, resulting in an undignified journey home. The title emphasizes the "tragic" (though comical) nature of the mishap.