The Wasp — 1895 — page 26: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page is primarily **advertising and directory listings** for San Francisco businesses, circa 1890s. The only cartoon appears in the center: a humorous sketch showing a rotund man on a bicycle with the caption "THE IRONY OF OFFICE." The cartoon's joke, based on the accompanying text, involves a fat man who asks "Will you marry me?" to a woman, and she responds tremulously, "A thousand times, no!" The punchline reads: "He's willing to undertake eight hundred public weddings, but not another one." This appears to be **satirizing someone in public office** (likely San Francisco-related) who performs official wedding ceremonies repeatedly but avoids his own marriage commitment—hence "the irony of office." Without identifying the specific person referenced, the satire targets hypocrisy: officiating others' unions while evading matrimonial responsibility.