The Wasp — 1891 — page 420: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page from *The Wasp* contains several satirical pieces mocking contemporary issues and figures. **Top section** discusses divorce law reform—specifically a proposed bill allowing wives to divorce unfaithful husbands equally as husbands can divorce unfaithful wives. The satire critiques English aristocrats' resistance to this "revolutionary" idea, with bishops leading opposition, calling it "subversive of virtue and religion." **Middle section** features an advertisement parody for "Phonographia" by "Dr. Crowley of Oakland," satirizing dubious medical practitioners. **Bottom cartoon** titled "An Easy Place" depicts a dialogue about social position and manual labor, likely mocking class pretensions. The overall tone ridicules legal inequities, medical charlatanism, and class hypocrisy characteristic of late 19th/early 20th-century American society.