The Wasp — 1896 — page 117: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page from *The Wasp* contains "The Old Maids' Diary," a gossip column by someone named Tabitha, alongside a portrait of John Garber, identified as "the famous lawyer who is recognized as at the head of the San Francisco Bar." The diary discusses San Francisco society scandals, particularly critiquing a woman named Mrs. Flirty and her involvement in theatrical circles. The column mocks various social figures and their moral failings—infidelity, financial irresponsibility, and hypocrisy among the wealthy elite. The satire targets San Francisco's upper-class pretensions and moral contradictions. References to divorce scandals, theatrical people, and gossipy social circles suggest this was aimed at ridiculing the city's fashionable society and their self-serving conduct masked by respectability.