The Wasp — 1896 — page 1061: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is primarily an **advertising page** for San Francisco businesses (banks, shipping companies, laundries, bicycles) with two unrelated satirical cartoons inserted. **Top cartoon ("In the Neck"):** Shows a man on a bicycle speaking to a woman. The joke concerns "Cholly" (a wealthy dandy) whose girlfriend is upset. The humor involves class mockery—Cholly dressed to "kill" (impress) but is actually a "tall timber" worker, suggesting pretension or false social status. **Bottom cartoon ("A Frightful Vision"):** Depicts a man describing a near-drowning experience to a woman, apparently a comedic anecdote about close calls with death. Both cartoons employ the era's typical satirical humor mocking social pretension and melodramatic storytelling. Without bylines or dates visible, specific authorship is unclear. The cartoons function as filler between advertisements rather than as the page's primary content.