The Wasp — 1895 — page 310: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains satirical commentary rather than political cartoons. The main illustration shows "Fin de Siècle Christianity," depicting two figures—one appears to be a society woman on a bicycle, the other a clergyman. The caption criticizes San Francisco's wealthy elite for selective morality: they attend church socially but engage in questionable behavior (the text mentions bicycle riding, flirtation, and materialism). The surrounding text ridicules various California figures and practices, including attorneys misusing the telephone, Californians obsessed with noses, and pseudo-scientific health remedies. The satire targets upper-class hypocrisy and the era's embrace of modern technology and fashions while maintaining traditional religious appearances—a classic late-19th-century critique of elite society's moral inconsistency.