The Wasp, 1918 · page 43 of 330
The Wasp — 1918 — page 43: what you’re looking at
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This page presents a lengthy monologue by a shipmaster, depicted as a hypocritical religious figure addressing a young man (James Burnham). The satire targets sanctimonious piety combined with moral blindness. The shipmaster delivers a sermon condemning the young man's "ungodliness" and "high-bellied living," yet his own example—Captain Moses Smith—reveals the hypocrisy: Smith was a "constant reader" of scripture who nonetheless trafficked in rum and enslaved people ("black negroes"), and was subsequently killed by pirates. The shipmaster presents Smith's death as God's will while remaining oblivious to the moral contradiction: that a "godly man" engaged in the slave trade. The satire critiques how religious rhetoric masked and justified the Atlantic slave trade and piracy, exposing how pious language could coexist with brutal exploitation. The shipmaster's whining voice and self-righteous lecturing underscore the caricature of hollow religiosity.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
34 THE W ASP said the shipmaster in a curiously high, whining voice. “The devilment that goes on up an’ down this Atlantic sea, from Acadia in the north’ to Trinidad in the south, is an offence to heaven an’ a stench i’ the nostrils o the Almighty. But yer life has been spared to ’e, young man, an’ ye’d do well to dedicate it to the Lord. I kin see by the cast o’ yer countenance an’ the slant ~ 0’ yer eye that ye’ve bin bred in ungodliness, roistering, an’ high-bellied living; and yet yer tainted life was spared to ’e. Better men, _ 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 o’ the Good Book, set-saila year back — come January, from Jamaicy, with a cargo 0” 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 Frenchman got him, hull, crew, an’ cargo, an’ his own saintly life into the bar- gain. Ye’re lucky, my young friend, to be a _ settin’ here now with yer Orcs life still aglow in yer belly ! ” Throughout this lengthy homily aes Burn- — ham had sprawled on the deck, with his shoulders .to the bulwarks, and regarded the pious COME OOKS.COm