The Wasp — 1879 — page 446: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

The cartoon depicts a chaplain in the legislature alongside a donkey, labeled "FOR CHRIST'S SAKE." The satire targets Reverend Mr. Tyler's invocation of religious authority during legislative debates. The accompanying text criticizes him for inappropriately mixing Christian piety with political maneuvering—specifically his support for the Real Estate Protective Association's $1,300 deposit requirement. The donkey represents stubborn, obstinate behavior. The cartoon's point: Tyler wraps self-interested legislative measures in religious rhetoric, using appeals to Christ's sake to advance what the magazine considers morally questionable policies. This conflates legislative business with religious justification, which The Wasp ridicules as absurd and hypocritical—"ice cream dessert to a W.P.C. dinner," as the text sarcastically notes.