The Wasp — 1890 — page 84: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page combines hotel directory advertisements with satirical illustrations and text centered on "The New Novel" — specifically a story titled "Looking Backward, or Swell vs. Swell." The cartoons depict two well-dressed gentlemen in exaggerated poses, likely satirizing upper-class affectation and manners. One illustration shows a figure in formal attire appearing awkwardly positioned, while another depicts someone in similar dress in an undignified posture. The accompanying text includes a "Prohibition Item" — a dialogue between a drummer and a landlord about alcohol sales in a small town, mocking both temperance ideology and the hypocrisy of supposedly "dry" communities. A separate exchange between "Colonel Kwaiter" and "Major Topple" ridicules excessive drinking and military bravado. The satire targets class pretension, drinking culture, and small-town moral contradictions typical of Gilded Age American social critique.