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Tomahawk (1867-1870), 19th February 1870, Edition 1 of 1, Page unpag, DBATH TN THE WORK-ROOM!

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      I T H E T O M A H A W K. A Saturday Jour...

      i T H E T O M A H A W K . A SATURDAY JOURNAL OF SATIRE . OEiiitefc tip frxtfyut a'Betfcett- | m ^ b ^^^^^ m ^ m Om ^ h ^^^^ b ^ m ^ I I . I I " INVITAT CULPAM QUI PECCATUM PRETERIT . "

      No. 146.] London, February 19, 1870. [Pr...

      No . 146 . ] LONDON , FEBRUARY 19 , 1870 . [ Price Twopence .

      Dbath Tn The Work-Room!

      DBATH TN THE WORK-ROOM !

      Tomahawk, Has Lived Long Enough, And Has...

      Tomahawk , has lived long enough , and has prospered well enough , to be above rivalry . He can afford to speak well of his contemporaries , even when they wear the jester ' s fool ' s-cap , and rattle the bells . Consequently , he can give the ancient wit of Fleet street his due . A glorious history has this venerable satirist—a muster roll numbering the honoured names of gentle Thackeray , caustic Jerrold , laughter-loving Leech . His pages shine with precious gems of polished sarcasm and genial humour . Who has forgotten the " Book of Snobs , " the " Caudle Lectures , " or the " Comic Blackstone " ? When Tomahawk ' s pen lies idle on the table , and its master claims kindred with the churchyard clay , the works of the dead wits of Fleet street will be remembered as words of priceless worth . Thackeray , the greatest of them all , had many friends ; but there was one amongst them who Tomahawk fancies must have been his dearest friend , his most constant companion—the author of the " Song of the Shirt , " poor Thomas Hood . At a time when men are thinking only of Parliament , or the state of the Funds ; when , over their claret , they discuss the cold without in the beggar-teeming street , and note its contrast wittrie redhre it is bad

      n . cheery betore them , no subject , this " Song of the Shirt , " this terrible poem , so full of charity , so suggestive of despair . Never was trade more depressed ; never the was misery only solution so rife . ! To Then live , , is leaving the problem politics for awhile poor ; to to die the , Daily Telegraph , with its gushing , to the Times , with its " Lowe " ideas hawk , , with faltering Standard pen , with and its eyes old ( woman not quite ' s fancies as dry , as Toma they - might be ) , sings once more the " Song of the Shirt . " Plenty of twaddle has been written about the work-girls of Lond on , and many a well meant blundering Act has been their passed ruin , avowedl . Bills y for lessening their protection their hours , in of reality labour to encompass consequently , diminishing the amount of their weekly p , ittance , have 1 been & ut still very starvation popular with has the continued " gushers , and " of death the great has been Metropolis consi , - . dered a welcome boon Truly has it been" Work ! work t work ! And While work the —work cock — is work crowing aloof ; Till the stars shine over the roof ! It ' Along s , Oh ! with to be the a barbarous slave , Turk ; Where If this woman is Christian has never work a . soul to save ,

      they Painful hasten is in the the sig morning ht of the to poor their taskmasters pale faces of with the women the labour as of the slowly past night . Cruel is the sound of the long drawn sighs , the glance of habitual despair . Young and old , white-haired women and curly-headed children , so different and yet so like , different in features , form , and face , like in bearing the same badge , —the pinched cheeks , the blue lips , the sign manual of Death 1 It is an old story , this tale of the work-girl ' s troubles ; so old that it has grown respectable , and is regarded as an accomplished fact . Occasional fits of maudling sentimentality , and a few drops of muddled tears are all that the public will give to rectify the scandal . Gush without limit ; but nothing practicable . What care they for the labour of the poor workwoman ? what care they for her piteous cry ? Work—work—work Work Till — the work brain —work begins to swim ! Till the eyes are heavy and dim ! Seam Band , and , and gusset gusset , and , and band seam , , Till And over sew the them buttons on in I fall a dream asleep ! ,

      It may be urged that now that science has lent its aid , that the prospects of the shirt-makers have materially improved , — that wheels and not women supply the modern sewing-machine . A mistake . Oh , lay not the flattering unction to your souls , oh ye Pharisees of London . The work on the sewing-machine is even more arduous than the " band , and gusset , and seam , " —more arduous , because it ' s more monotonous . As for the hours , they remain the same ; as for the pay , it has grown smaller . To sew , one must be skilful ; to work a sewingmachine , requires no art of any kind . So the new invention has been a curse instead of a blessing to the work-girls of London . The shop-keeper has reaped the benefit of increased profit , but the producer and public have gone empty away . Last season ( when the sewing machine had been invented ) a number of scandals rather startled the newspaper readers , and gave the editors of comic journals excellent subjects for effective cartoons . Death from , breathing impure air , death from overwork , death from , starvation , At last it became quite unpleasant . One could not enter a ball room without counting the numbers of lives caused by the dancer ' s dresses . That creature polished off a mother of five , that elaborate skirt nearly disposed ' of a young girl of eighteen . It became quite dreadful at last . One does not care to see coffins in coiffures , death tripping it lightly bound with shoe string's . At supper one hates to dis-

  • Citation
    • Tomahawk (1867-1870), Feb. 19, 1870, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/t/issues/ttw_19021870/page/3/