The Wasp — 1877 — page 65: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

The page contains three separate satirical pieces rather than a unified cartoon: 1. **Top illustration**: A winged figure (appears to be a wasp or fairy) labeled "Maria" running with what looks like a circular object, accompanying humorous verses about choosing a spouse and proper temperament. 2. **"A Dutchman's Troubles"**: A prose satire about a man named Hans of Pettigrew Hill involved in a property dispute with neighbors over chickens damaging a garden. The humor derives from the absurdist legal complications arising from this minor rural dispute. 3. **"Pure Artlessness"** and **"Not that Way"**: Brief dialogues depicting social awkwardness and misunderstandings between characters, typical of The Wasp's style of satirizing everyday Victorian social interactions and pretensions. The magazine combines visual and textual humor targeting middle-class domestic life and social conventions.