The Wasp — 1877 — page 281: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This three-panel satirical cartoon mocks temperance movement advocates. The top panels contrast "His Early Education" (left, showing a drunk man near a ship) with "His Present Status" (right, depicting him as a well-dressed temperance lecturer addressing an audience). The bottom panel, captioned "Didn't I Tole You So? Aind It?", shows the lecturer's umbrella blown away while street urchins jeer, revealing his pretense. The "wheel of fortune" imagery suggests his elevated position is temporary—a cycle of hypocrisy. The satire suggests temperance lecturers are reformed drunkards whose moral authority is false or unstable. The cartoon ridicules both the credibility of such reformers and, implicitly, the temperance movement itself as relying on unconvincing advocates.