The Wasp — 1894 — page 487: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page is primarily **advertisements and business notices** with one small central cartoon titled "THE LATEST DODGE." The cartoon depicts two women in 1890s dress with exaggerated features. The accompanying text presents a humorous dialogue about a "Smart Boarding House" proprietor named Madge who uses new "anti-theatre craze" tactics. The joke appears satirize fashionable excuses—Madge claims she can't afford theater attendance due to being poor, but the narrator questions this excuse, suggesting it's a pretense or social dodge (a deceptive tactic). The surrounding page contains mostly business advertisements for real estate, mining companies, medical services, and consumer goods typical of San Francisco in this era. The cartoon's satire targets upper-class social pretensions and transparent excuses among boarding house residents.