The Wasp — 1891 — page 165: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page is primarily **advertising** for San Francisco businesses (liquor dealers, pianos, insurance companies, etc.), typical of 1890s-era satirical magazines that relied on paid advertisements for revenue. The central content is a sketch titled **"Near-Sighted"** accompanying a poem called **"Life."** The illustration shows a woman with "semi-lemon-yellow colored hair" being admired by a man who cannot see her clearly. The accompanying verse describes a woman's physical attributes and her romantic entanglement, playing on the irony suggested by the title—what appears attractive from a distance may not withstand closer inspection. This represents **social satire about romantic illusions and appearance versus reality**, common themes in Victorian-era publications.