The Wasp — 1892 — page 294: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page features a satirical cartoon titled "References Exchanged" depicting two figures gossiping—a classic Victorian trope. The dialogue shows one person claiming not to recognize the other despite working together at "six or eight places during the year," suggesting chronic job-hopping due to poor performance or dismissal. The joke mocks unreliable workers who move between employers frequently, leaving bad reputations. Each person pretends not to know the other to avoid negative references, a common employment problem of the era. The cartoon satirizes both labor instability and the awkwardness of professional reputation in the late 19th/early 20th century job market. The rest of the page consists primarily of hotel and business advertisements for the San Francisco Bay Area, typical of *The Wasp*'s commercial content.