The Wasp — 1879 — page 46: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page consists primarily of **"Answers to Correspondents"** — a satirical advice column common to 19th-century magazines. Rather than containing political cartoons, it features short humorous responses to fictional reader questions. The humor targets contemporary social concerns: tobacco use, marital disputes, life insurance calculations, and courtship etiquette. Responses mock both the questioners' predicaments and broader society — for example, dismissing a question about chewing tobacco with the terse reply that "it is not reckoned proper for young ladies." The column exemplifies **The Wasp's satirical approach**: using reader questions as vehicles to lampoon Victorian social conventions, masculine behavior, and everyday absurdities. Without identifying specific political figures, this page demonstrates how 19th-century satirical magazines used humor to comment on ordinary life rather than solely political events.