The Wasp — 1891 — page 185: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page is primarily **advertisements** for San Francisco businesses (liquor dealers, pianos, insurance companies) with two literary pieces interspersed. The central illustration shows a flirtatious scene between a man and woman on what appears to be a ship's deck. The accompanying poem "What She Could Do" presents a woman's internal monologue about romance and duty—she fantasizes about kissing a man but ultimately concludes "She could remain where she is," suggesting resignation to her actual circumstances. Below, "Unrest" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox is a philosophical poem about spiritual searching and existential longing. Rather than political satire, this page reflects **late 19th-century social commentary on women's constrained choices**—particularly the tension between romantic desire and social propriety or marital obligation.