The Wasp — 1895 — page 671: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon depicts three well-dressed men in what appears to be a con or swindle scenario. The dialogue reads: "SLICKER—That fellow over there cheated me out of a cool million. WICKER—How could he? SLICKER—Wouldn't tell me his daughter." The joke hinges on ironic wordplay about deception. "Slicker" claims he was swindled out of money, but then admits the real "con" was refusing to reveal his daughter's identity—suggesting the daughter herself is the actual valuable commodity being withheld, or that access to her would have been worth the million dollars. This satirizes both predatory courtship practices and the commodification of women in marriage transactions during this era. The cartoon mocks both the criminal and the victim as equally morally questionable.