Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, April 1922 · page 44 of 67
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #32 — page 44: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains no political cartoon or satirical illustration—it's a serialized romantic story printed in verse form. The narrative depicts a Catholic confession scene where a woman confesses an illicit love to a priest, ultimately revealing that the priest himself is the object of her affection. The content reflects early 20th-century anxieties about celibacy and clerical sexuality. The woman's anguished monologues about forbidden love, prayer, and religious despair, coupled with the priest's shocked reaction and moral struggle, suggest the story explores tension between religious vows and human desire. "Captain Billy's Whiz Bang" was known for humor and satire, but this particular installment appears to be sentimental fiction rather than satire—possibly aiming at melodramatic emotional effect rather than social commentary or political critique.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang 43 The vision faded with the morning light, The love will last as long as I shall do.” “Child, have you prayed against it?” “Have I prayed? Have I not clogged my very soul with prayer; Stopped up my ears with sound of praying; made My very body faint with kneeling there Before the sculptured Christ, and all for this, That when my lips can pray no more, and sleep Shuts my unwilling eyes, my love will leap To dreamland’s bounds, to meet me with his kiss! “Avoid him? Ay, in dewy garden walk How often have I strayed, avoiding him, And heard his voice mix with the common talk, Yet never turned his way. My eyes grow dim With weeping over what I lose by day And find by night, yet never have to call My own. O God! is there no help at all— No hope, no chance, and no escapeful way?” “And who is he to whom thy love is given?” “What? Holy church demands to know his name? No rest for me on earth, no hope of heaven Unless I tell it? Ah, for very shame I cannot—yet why not?—I will—I can! I have grown mad with brooding on my curse. Here! Take the name; no better and no worse My case will be. Father, thou art the man!” An icy shock shivered through all his frame— An overwhelming, cold astonishment; But on the instant the revulsion came, His blood felt what her revelation meant. “Lord Christ,” his soul cried, while his heart beat fast, “Give strength in this, my hour of utmost need;” And with the prayer strength came to him indeed, And with calm voice he answered her at last: “Child, go in peace! Wrestle and watch and pray, And I will spend this night in prayer for thee, That God will take thy strange great grief away. Thou hast confessed thy sin. Absolvo te.” Silence most absolute a little while, Then passed the whisper of her trailing gown Over the knee-worn stones, and soft died down The dim, deserted, incense-memoried aisle. All night he lay upon the chancel floor, And coined his heart in tears and prayers, and new