The Wasp — 1881 — page 316: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains three separate satirical stories rather than political cartoons: 1. **"Pettigrew's Call"**: A narrative mocking a social-climbing businessman named Pettigrew, satirizing his pretentious aspirations and moral compromises in pursuit of respectability. 2. **"The Unreported Cow"**: A story about a railroad accident involving a cow, satirizing bureaucratic incompetence and the railroad company's attempts to cover up or minimize the incident through investigation procedures. 3. **"The Child-Dike"** and **"An Odd Preacher"**: Two additional satirical tales appearing to critique various social hypocrisies and character flaws. The page uses narrative satire rather than visual caricature to expose Victorian-era social pretension, corporate malfeasance, and moral duplicity. The satirical targets appear to be middle-class ambition and institutional dishonesty.