The Wasp — 1893 — page 279: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page is primarily **advertising** for steamship and railroad companies, with small scattered comic bits. The main cartoon shows a woman telling a man she's "gone out" and asking "Will a gentleman?" He responds with a lantern-jawed face: "No, sir; with a lantern jawed face like that looked much like yourself, sir." The joke appears to be **self-deprecating humor about male ugliness**—the man is so unattractive that the woman prefers going out alone rather than being seen with him. The exaggerated facial features in the illustration emphasize this point. The page also contains brief humorous snippets like "Hair Death" (a patent medicine ad parody) and "The Busy Bee," but these are minor fillers among extensive railroad and steamship schedules and advertisements typical of period magazines.