The Wasp — 1896 — page 697: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page is primarily **historical/nostalgic rather than satirical**. It features photographs of San Francisco landmarks with accompanying text describing famous theatrical figures and their fates. The content documents "The Willows," a once-notable suburban resort, and "The Old Mission House" (Pioneer Bar), historical San Francisco locations. The text becomes a melancholic catalog of deceased performers—listing actors and actresses who died young or met tragic ends (Rose Evans, Ben de Bar, Edwin Adams, etc.). The photographs show street scenes and buildings from an earlier San Francisco era. Rather than political satire, this reads as **nostalgic reflection on lost people and places**, with the underlying message conveyed in the closing verse: life's transience and how "the heart that is soonest awake to the flowers / Is always the first to be touched by the thorns."