The Wasp — 1888 — page 213: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page from *The Wasp* contains several satirical prose pieces rather than cartoons. The content includes: 1. **"Ye Innocent Granger"** — A poem mocking rural farmers who are swindled by urban con artists and confidence schemes. 2. **"In Pursuit of Bracelets Under Difficulties"** — A story satirizing a poor man trying to court a girl by stealing bracelets to impress her, exposing the absurdity of courtship rituals among the working class. 3. **"The Ready Wit of a Soldier"** — An anecdote about a French soldier under Maximilian in Mexico who cleverly retrieves a stolen slipper, poking fun at military bureaucracy. 4. **"Country Morals"** — A narrative criticizing urban hypocrisy, contrasting city dwellers' moral failings with rural innocence. The page's satire targets class pretension, urban deception, and social contradictions of the era.