The Wasp — 1896 — page 272: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page is primarily **advertising and directory listings** for San Francisco businesses (hotels, restaurants, dentists, lawyers) from what appears to be the early 1900s. The only cartoon present is titled **"ONE THING LACKING,"** showing a woman examining a man's back. The caption reads: "Mrs. Emanciprix—What is it that we women want in order to be happy? Masculine voice in Back Seat—The earth! / Wife to Him—'Taint no news good news!" This satirizes the **women's suffrage/emancipation movement** of the era, mocking women's demands for equality. The joke suggests women's ambitions are absurdly grandiose ("wanting the earth"), and presents marriage as an adversarial relationship where women complain endlessly. The satire reflects anti-feminist sentiment common in early Wasp publications.