The Wasp — 1891 — page 340: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page from *The Wasp* contains multiple brief satirical items targeting contemporary issues and figures. The top cartoon depicts two men in a financial transaction, likely mocking a business or political deal. The text items below skewer various subjects: California merchants advertising "calicoes in fast colors for Lent," a suicide who donated his body to medical school, and the Sacramento "barrel" political scandal. Other items mock Western free coinage advocates, the California Ostrich Farm Company, Chicago saloon-keepers, and San Jose medical charlatans. The "Bobo-graphia" section ridicules Irish humor and Sligo politics. The page concludes with commentary on "The King's Daughters" hospital (implying mismanagement) and contemporary literature deemed overly pessimistic. The humor relies on local references and contemporary scandals now requiring historical context.