The Wasp — 1896 — page 171: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page is primarily **advertising** for San Francisco businesses (bicycles, whiskey, laundries, dental work, etc.), with one central cartoon titled "Force of Habit." The cartoon depicts a woman holding an umbrella despite sunny conditions, with a wasp (the magazine's mascot) flying beside her. The accompanying dialogue suggests the joke: a husband asks if his wife has anything prepared for a rainy day; she responds she has "a collection of twenty-two borrowed umbrellas." **The satire**: The cartoon mocks women's supposed habit of chronic borrowing and failure to return items—a common period stereotype about feminine irresponsibility. The "force of habit" is both borrowing umbrellas and carrying them regardless of weather, implying mindless routine behavior rather than practical necessity.