The Wasp — 1880 — page 172: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This small cartoon at page bottom depicts two working-class women in conversation. The caption identifies it as "A Distinction" and includes dialogue where one woman (Mrs. Jones) asks where the other worked before coming here. The response distinguishes between two types of domestic labor: working "for a woman" versus "for a shoddy on Sash street" or working for someone else. The joke appears to satirize class distinctions within working-class employment itself—mocking how even domestic servants maintained hierarchies about whom they served, distinguishing between respectable employers and those deemed less worthy. It's social commentary on the pretensions of the working poor.