The Wasp, 1918 · page 222 of 330
The Wasp — 1918 — page 222: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This passage describes a scheme of deception involving ships. A vessel called *Le Diable* is repainted to impersonate "Trimmer's schooner," then sent to sea to damage the reputation of a ship called the *Wasp* by committing acts of piracy or crime under false colors. Simultaneously, "Slim Sam" manipulates James Burnham by treating him respectfully while verbally attacking the absent John Trimmer, calling him dishonest and self-serving—a classic divide-and-conquer tactic using flattery and backbiting. The satire appears to critique underhand business or political dealings of the era: using false identities to harm competitors' reputations, spreading slander through two-faced charm, and exploiting absent parties. Without seeing the illustration or knowing the specific historical context of *The Wasp* magazine, the exact targets remain unclear, but the passage satirizes duplicity and character assassination masquerading as friendly negotiation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE WASP 253 . learned the science of navigation from Wells. Then Le Diable’s course was altered. Two days later Le Diable splashed an anchor ‘in a secluded harbour, and the work of painting her hull snow-white to the water-line was com- -menced. Her name was painted out and she was touched up cleverly here and there so as to look exactly like Trimmer’s schooner. She _soon put to sea again, and immediately set about adding to the terrible reputation of the Wasp. Slim Sam treated James Burnham with the utmost friendliness and respect; and while he patted James with the palm of his hand, figura- tively speaking, he constantly slapped the absent Trimmer with the back of it. He talked a great deal about John Trimmer. He was sorry to have to confess that Trimmer was not only a hog, but a dishonest hog. ‘Trim- -mer thought of nothing but. lining his own -nest. -He distrusted John Trimmer; and so on, and so on. comicnooks.com