The Wasp — 1896 — page 345: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page is primarily **advertising**, featuring businesses like Mutual Savings Bank, John Wieland's Lager Beer, and various San Francisco services. The only cartoon is a modest sketch titled "An Uncompleted Sonnet: Why on earth do you do your hair in that absurd fashion, Smith?" It depicts two men in profile—one appears to be critiquing the other's hairstyle. The accompanying verse mocks a Southern poet who abandoned writing a sonnet about his wife's beauty when "It chilled and killed his skill, / And he got no further than 'Dog-won-it.'" The humor appears to be **light social satire** about vanity and personal grooming rather than political commentary. The context suggests genteel mockery of affectation, typical of The Wasp's general satirical tone.