The Wasp — 1890 — page 235: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

The left column presents a humorous dialogue between Jake, a young mulatto preacher, and Colonel Ben—likely a white authority figure—discussing Jake's sermon about King Solomon. The satire mocks Jake's malapropisms and folk dialect while poking fun at his earnest but simplified moral lessons. The illustration depicts a domestic scene with a maid and gentleman, captioned with wordplay about "clear water" and forgetting milk—a mild domestic joke. The right column's "Women and Men" section critiques various contemporary issues: California society women adopting foreign names, Cornell University students' political economics views, and Rev. McKenzie's theological claims about Earth as heaven. The final item mocks a San Francisco lady smoking cigarettes, framing it as a geographical/social transgression.