The Wasp — 1879 — page 108: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains a **Literary Review** section rather than political cartoons. The main content critiques "Thompson's Geography," a educational text that the reviewer finds overly simplified and inaccurate. The reviewer objects to the book's assertion that "the earth is a sphere" while admitting uncertainty, and criticizes its claim about converting 3000 sinners—attributing this exaggeration to Elder Burgess of Butler University. The page also includes various humorous **anecdotes and witticisms** about contemporary life: observations on fashion, marriage customs, Chinese ambassadors, and social behavior. There's a brief section on **Samuel Johnson's biography**, lamenting that previous biographers omitted interesting details from his life. This appears to be a **miscellaneous humor and commentary page** rather than satirical cartooning, typical of 19th-century periodicals mixing social commentary with literary critique.