The Wasp — 1894 — page 304: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes a common domestic conflict. A mother refuses to buy her daughter a new doll advertised in the newspaper, claiming the old doll is "as good as ever." The daughter counters that while the doll itself may be fine, "the angels gave you a new baby"—implying the mother should apply her own logic to having more children rather than settling for existing ones. The satire is directed at parental hypocrisy: mothers who resist children's desires for new things while expecting husbands to provide them with new babies. It's a cheeky joke about marital expectations and the inconsistency of domestic arguments about necessity versus desire.