The Wasp — 1896 — page 301: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains **"The Old Maid's Diary,"** a satirical column mocking upper-class San Francisco women's concerns and hypocrisy. The diary entries critique women's obsessive focus on fashion, particularly Easter bonnets and bicycle attire, while claiming moral virtue. The author ridicules the contradiction between women's religious pretenses and their vanity—attending church once yearly yet agonizing over millinery details. The accompanying illustration shows two women in period dress, likely depicting the fashion obsessions described. The satire targets **women's materialism and social pretension** in Gilded Age San Francisco, particularly mocking their competitive display of wealth through clothing while maintaining claims of piety. The column represents typical late-Victorian satirical attacks on women's consumer culture and perceived shallow values.