The Wasp — 1895 — page 325: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon depicts two cyclists meeting on a rural fence. The man (left) appears to be courting the woman (right), who sits perched on the fence. The caption reads: "Mr. Ardent, if you insist upon making love to me every time we go riding I must get another bicycle... I find it awfully hard to speak another word of love as long as we live." **The joke:** The woman is literally "on the fence"—uncertain about the man's constant romantic advances during their bicycle outings. She's physically balanced on a fence (unstable position) while he pursues her relentlessly. This satirizes the tension between persistent male courtship and female resistance during the bicycle-craze era. The humor relies on the double meaning of "on the fence" (indecisive/uncommitted) combined with her actual precarious perch, mocking earnest Victorian romance.