The Wasp — 1893 — page 342: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon from *The Wasp* (October 21, 1893) depicts two fashionably dressed women in what appears to be a social scandal about a broken engagement. The caption reveals the joke: one woman complains that there's no announcement in the society pages about her engagement to "young Goldsoon," despite his proposal last night. She claims she sent a full account to the society editors before bed, signed "Old Subscriber." The satire targets the 1890s practice of publishing personal social announcements—the women are mocking how eagerly people sought public validation of their romantic status through newspaper society columns. The humor lies in the disparity between her expectation of immediate publication and the reality that her anonymous submission was apparently ignored or rejected by editors.