The Wasp — 1894 — page 393: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page is primarily **advertising and entertainment listings** for San Francisco circa early 1900s, with minimal satirical content. The only cartoon appears at top-left: titled "WHY NOT?" it depicts a social scene where a woman ("May") and her husband discuss calling cards. The husband suggests presenting her card to "calling houses" with the name spelled "Mae Kathryn Anne Smith" instead of correctly. The wife agrees reluctantly. **The satire targets**: upper-class social pretension and the perceived absurdity of name-alteration for social climbing—specifically mocking how wealthy San Franciscans adopted affected spellings or pronunciations to seem more refined or fashionable. The remainder consists of ads for cocktails, theatrical performances, banks, and insurance companies typical of the era's commercial publications.