The Wasp — 1893 — page 462: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains two distinct sections: **Left side:** "The Old Maid's Diary" and "Taritha Discourses" present satirical commentary on women's lives—specifically corset-wearing (criticized as medically harmful), boarding-house schemes, and social pretensions. The text mocks both the women perpetrating these conventions and those suffering under them. **Right side:** "Our Streets" (View No. 6) depicts street scenes with multiple sketched figures, apparently satirizing public behavior or San Francisco street life, though specific targets are unclear from the visible cartoons. **Bottom:** Period advertisements for medical remedies (tape-worm treatment, R. Hall's Pulmonary Balsam) typical of late 19th-century publications. The overall tone targets middle-class hypocrisy and dubious health practices marketed to women.