The Wasp, 1913 · page 46 of 364
The Wasp — 1913 — page 46: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical narrative scene mocking religious hypocrisy in maritime commerce. A pious shipmaster delivers sanctimonious advice to James Burnham about dedicating his life to the Lord, yet the sermon reveals the speaker's complicity in the slave trade—he casually mentions his brother captained a ship carrying "red rum an' black negroes" that was pirated. The satire targets the contradiction between professed Christian piety and participation in slavery and exploitation. The captain's religiosity ("constant reader...of the Good Book") contrasts sharply with his acceptance of slave trafficking as normal business. Burnham's "crooked smile" and "dancing eyes" suggest he sees through the hypocrisy. The joke exposes how 19th-century maritime traders justified brutal commerce through selective moral reasoning—grateful to survive while indifferent to enslaved Africans' fates. The satirist uses dialect humor and the captain's crude tobacco-spitting to emphasize his moral degradation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
I ee ae # Na OO NIN I LS yg THE WASP 45 godly men, true sarvants o’ the Lord, hev not bin so fortunate. There was Cap’n Moses Smith, my own blood-brother, a constant reader an’ digester 0’ the Good Book, set sail a year back come January, from Jamaicy, with a cargo o’ red rum an’ black negroes, an’ hain’t never bin heerd of nor seen since. Overhauled an’ scuttled by the pirates he was, ye kin lay to it. Deck or Hicks or the French- man got him, hull, crew, an’ cargo, an’ his own saintly life into the bargain. Ye’re lucky, my young friend, to be a settin’ here now with yer worthless life still aglow in yer belly!” Throughout this lengthy homily James Burnham had. sprawled on the deck, with his shoulders to the bulwarks, and regarded the pious shipmaster with dancing eyes and a crooked smile. “Thank you,” he said. “What suggestions have you to make as to the best way for me to begin to dedicate my life to the Lord?” - Mr. Smith pulled his goatish beard and reflected. He spat tobacco-juice into the scuppers. “Ye’d best set to work a showin’ yer gratitude Comichooks.com