The Wasp — 1893 — page 270: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page presents a four-panel humorous cartoon about a man attempting to bathe in a bathtub that appears to be outdoors or improperly installed. The sequence shows: 1. Mr. Wayback praising "patent city fixings" as superior to natural creeks for bathing 2. Him settling into the tub, declaring it "kind o' comfortable" 3. The tub tilting or malfunctioning ("Gee whiz") 4. Him being dumped out into water ("Help!!") The satire mocks urban pretension—specifically the assumption that modern plumbing fixtures are inherently better than nature. The man's confident boasting about "patent city fixings" is immediately undercut by mechanical failure, suggesting that progress and technology aren't always improvements over simpler alternatives. The joke targets gullible faith in modern conveniences.