The Wasp — 1895 — page 285: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page is primarily **advertising** for San Francisco-area businesses (tailors, carriage dealers, whiskey, hotels, and shoe stores), typical of early 20th-century magazine layouts. The main cartoon titled **"What Did He Mean?"** depicts a social interaction between two cyclists. A woman on a bicycle addresses a man, mentioning "Strawberry Hill" and "beautiful view," while he responds about the "view from here." The humor appears to rest on **double entendre or misunderstanding**—his comment about "the view from here" likely refers to looking at *her* rather than the landscape, creating an awkward social moment. This satirizes contemporary courtship customs and bicycle culture, which was novel and associated with women's independence and casual mixed-gender socializing in that era.