The Wasp — 1891 — page 287: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page is primarily **advertisements** for San Francisco businesses (liquor dealers, piano sellers, insurance companies) interspersed with two illustrated stories/cartoons. The main cartoon, **"How Cruel,"** depicts a woman rejecting a suitor's romantic advances—she threatens to throw herself out a window if he doesn't leave her alone. The satire appears to mock both excessive romantic persistence and melodramatic female rejection tactics common in Victorian courtship literature. Below that, **"Sir Cupid"** by Frederick E. Weatherley tells a poem about Cupid searching for an ideal lover, cycling through different types of women (soldier's paramour, preacher's preferred) before ultimately being rejected. The satire mocks romantic idealism and the folly of seeking perfect love. Both pieces use humor to comment on courtship rituals and romantic disappointment.