The Wasp — 1889 — page 159: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page from *The Wasp* contains primarily **humorous anecdotes and advertisements** rather than political cartoons. The left column features brief comedic stories ("Some Bullish Remarks," "A Trying Experience," "He Couldn't Kick," "Out of the Old Man's Box," "Commendable Forethought") that mock social pretension, military incompetence, and domestic absurdities—typical of period satirical magazines. The right side is dominated by **classified advertisements** for medical quackery and patent remedies common to the 1880s era: "L.A. Berteling, Scientific Optician"; "Fits" cured by specialist physicians; "Rupture Remedies"; "Weak Men" treatments; and "Opium Habit" cures. These reflect widespread medical fraud that satirical publications often targeted implicitly through their very placement. One visible advertisement is for "Cuts and Lithos" printing services. The page demonstrates how 19th-century satirical magazines funded themselves through dubious patent-medicine advertising.