The Wasp — 1890 — page 455: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains gossip columns and brief comedic sketches rather than political cartoons. The "Fashionable Intelligence" section reports on aristocratic scandals: a Belgian prince's marriage, a wealthy widow's European travels, and arrests of European nobles for assault and wife-beating. These items mock high society's misbehavior and hypocrisy. The sketches below—"The Protuberant Ass," "A Swindled Landlord," "He Courted Danger," and others—are brief humorous dialogues satirizing everyday social types: a pretentious character, an evasive tenant, foolish boaters, and con artists. The humor targets universal human follies rather than specific political figures, relying on wordplay and stereotypical character types for comedic effect.