The Wasp — 1890 — page 425: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page from *The Wasp* magazine features a satirical advice column illustrated with cartoon figures (shown at top). The main content consists of brief humorous anecdotes and witty exchanges mocking various social types: a jewelry advertiser, a champagne drinker, and trampy characters discussing poverty. The illustrations appear to depict working-class or vagrant figures, consistent with *The Wasp's* satirical focus on San Francisco society. The jokes target pretension and hypocrisy—such as the man who "drinks like a fish" and the tramp who receives an address to the "town soup kitchen" as charity. The page also includes advertisements, confirming *The Wasp's* mixed editorial-commercial format. The satire reflects typical late 19th/early 20th-century American magazine humor targeting class distinctions and urban characters.