The Wasp — 1890 — page 503: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains two distinct pieces: 1. **"The Wasp in the Spouting Funnel"** — A narrative story about an old logger at Navarro Mills describing a dangerous water funnel/sinkhole. The accompanying illustration depicts a dramatic scene of someone clinging to rocks in turbulent water. This appears to be adventure fiction rather than satire. 2. **"Bill Hicks and the Parson"** — A story about conflict between Bill Hicks, a tough whisky-drinking miner at Placer Gulch camp, and Parson James, who tries to reform the camp's morality. The narrative describes their ongoing contest and escalating tensions. Neither piece contains obvious political satire or identifiable caricatures of public figures. Both appear to be frontier/mining camp stories typical of 19th-century American periodicals.