The Wasp — 1881 — page 56: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains two distinct sections: **Left side:** "A Colony of Book-worms" - a satirical essay praising industrious working-class people (bookbinders, historians, artisans) who toil in San Francisco workshops. The text celebrates manual laborers and their intellectual contributions, contrasting them favorably with idle wealthy people. The accompanying woodcut shows stacked books, reinforcing the literary theme. **Right side:** "Wasp's Improved Webster" - a humorous dictionary of ten-cent definitions, defining words like "Prodigy," "Produce," and "Promiscuous" with witty, irreverent meanings. For example, "Prodigy" is defined as "a new born infant that cried its life away." **Bottom left:** An advertisement for "The Wicked Races of the Pacific" by A.G. Burnham. The page satirizes both labor and language, celebrating working people while mocking pretentious vocabulary.