The Wasp — 1891 — page 361: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page discusses Charles Stewart Parnell, the Irish nationalist politician. The text criticizes Parnell's moral character following scandal, noting that Irish laborers who once supported him now distance themselves from him. A dialogue between two Irish workers expresses this betrayal: they reference Parnell's downfall ("Don't my son kape stidy comp'ny wid yure darter?") and his death, with one calling him "a great man" despite his failings. The satirical point targets both Parnell's moral collapse and Irish-American political hypocrisy—the magazine attacks literary figures (Coleridge, Preston, etc.) who romanticize Irish nationalism while ignoring Parnell's personal scandals that undermined the movement itself. The illustrations appear decorative rather than directly satirical commentary on the text itself.