The Wasp, 1918 · page 142 of 330
The Wasp — 1918 — page 142: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page depicts a dialogue about a duel between Stanton and Burnham. An older military figure (appears to be a colonel or senior officer) discusses covering up Stanton's injury as a horseback accident rather than reporting it truthfully—reflecting period attitudes that dueling injuries were commonplace and unremarkable among gentlemen. Dr. Hamm's commentary reveals the satire's target: he dismisses Stanton's chances against "a son of old Walter Burnham," attributing Burnham family superiority to their "fighting strain" with "a dash of the fiend in it." The satire mocks the era's romanticization of dueling as honorable masculine tradition, while simultaneously critiquing the hypocrisy of concealing such violence behind social propriety. The characters' nostalgic celebration of past duels ("Men were men in those days") contrasts ironically with their present need for secrecy—exposing the contradiction between public morality and private practice among the upper classes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE WASP —- ——S—=«WY33 his back, will do him no harm. [I'll report to the colonel that he was injured by a throw from his horse, but well can remember the days when little accidents of this kind did not have to be hidden under a bushel. We’re becoming too nice in our morals, Willis. [I’ve been out my- self. Bless your soul, yes—three times in all, and killed my man once. Men were men in those days, and not.a pack of old ladies. I’ve seen a parson go out in the dawning with his own churchwarden and wing him as neat as you please at twenty paces. I have a hole in my own chest here that would astonish you could you see it. So it was a good fight, was it? Wish I had been there, stap me if I'don’t! ” “It was a close fight, sir,” replied Willis. ‘Stanton seemed to have the advantage up to the very moment of ane The sun shone full into Burnham’s eyes.” —“T could have told you how it would end,” _said Dr. Hamm. “ Did you think for a moment that this hulk had any chance against a son of old Walter Burnham, of Burnham? They are of a fighting strain, the Burnhams, with a dash of the fiend in it. And where is Burnham now? I trust that he’ll not be fool enough to run away. No need of it, even if Percy goes out. All that comichooks.com