Current:

Tomahawk (1867-1870), 28th March 1868, Edition 1 of 1, Page 131, OWL'S LIGHT, OR, DARKNESS VISIBLE.

Page 131
Page 9
9 of 10

On this page

  • Departments (2)
    • PUTTING IT TO THE TEST.
    • OWL'S LIGHT, OR, DARKNESS VISIBLE.
  • Text (5)
  • Transcript

    • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      March 28, 1868.] The Tomahawk. 131

      March 28 , 1868 . ] THE TOMAHAWK . 131

      Putting It To The Test.

      PUTTING IT TO THE TEST .

      Better When . It A Nail Is Not Is W Ther...

      better When . It a nail is not is w therefore ell set , the out harder of lace it is hit to on the a few head more the , , psay words on the subject of the Oxford Tests' Abolition Bill , especially as that particular nail has received one or two very satisfactory is . in short and . srettino decided - raoidlv blows driven in the well course home of . the Soite past the week Drotest , and f ,

      of a lot of Oxford *—* *_ J " nobodies X * , " with whose names J . no one -i . , who does not get up the University Calendar by heart , has the remotest chance of making an acquaintance , a few very pertinent facts have come to light in corroboration of the liberal view of this matter . The usual howl about " Christian education " has already been disposed of in these columns , but the nature of the " Christian education " referred to , that is to say , that at present guaranteed by Oxford , has yet to be explained . Fortunately , a few words suffice for the purpose ; it is as follows : —

      1 . —Attending a Latin chapel every morning . 2 . —Getting up some Greek Testament . 3 . —Cramming up the XXXIX Articles and Bible history for the Great Go . Add to this , that the first of these is regarded by nine-tenths of the conscript chapel-goers as about an important piece of business , as " showing in hall" at dinner , and that the other two are quite optional with those who do not care to swear by the XXXIX Articles , and the sum of " Christian " influence as at Bresent understood at Oxford mav be easilv aooreciated .

      However , the loaves and the fishes must be . retained at any cost , and so a mass of respectable mediocrity " earnestly entreats " that this kind of thing may be suffered to go on in the interests of Christianity , and as a barrier against infidelity . So many exposes of this rather wicked twaddle have already appeared , that it is not now worth pen and paper to add to their number . Against the excellent principle of weeding education but we of would any approach suggest that to infidelity a few things we have are yet not required a word to to say ren- ; der the position of the Oxford memorialists sound . Do not let them come limping forward with such nonsense

      as they nave hitherto paraded , but let them go to tne root 01 the thing . If they only do this they will at once take proper precautions to make the " religious " training of their University a reality and not a myth ; and to effect such a desirable object they had better act upon the subjoined hints which we cheerfully and freely throw out for their consideration . Let them — 1 . —Give an unquestionable explanation of the XXXIX Articles . 2 . —Explain the points of similarity between Mr . Spurgeon

      aiiu a . x cigd . j . 1 . 3 . —Forbid the use of penny papers , French novels , waltzing , and clay pipes . 4 . —Encourage going to bed not later than half-past nine . 5 . —Give up their own emoluments , and behave as much as they conveniently can like early Christians . 6 . —Extinguish tea , tracts , and all logic muffins , thoug , ad ht libitum , and debate . , and provide 7 . —Burn Mr . Jowett , or if he object , his effigy , every 5 th

      Ul IN U VC 111 DC 1 . 8 . — Employ Dr . Colenso , Brother Ignatius , Dean Stanley , jointl the Bishop y or of severally London , , and on the Mr . Mackonochie immense bles to sings preach of , " definite creed . "

      Owl's Light, Or, Darkness Visible.

      OWL ' S LIGHT , OR , DARKNESS VISIBLE .

      We Often Meet With Paragraphs In Differe...

      We often meet with paragraphs in different journals to which the title " Owl's Light" appears as heading . The title seems excellently well chosen , for as the bird sacred to poeticall Minerva y spoken is only of happy as owl in ' s the light twilig , and ht as , which by thi is s lig sometimes ht we remark the absence of the greater luminaries , so in the paragraphs able disap birds pearance chosen to roost do of the we . sun observe of intelli a gloaming gence , and which sends indicates all respect the - The most serious papers quote these paragraphs , and seldom

      We Often Meet With Paragraphs In Differe...

      see the sun rise on them without being forced to contradict the observations hooted forth in semi-darkness . nal The of Politics Owl in question and Society is , it " seems the onl , a y small elevated " Wednesday idea in which Jourpages seems of to political be the price and , social which twaddle is sixpence : a remuneration for four and which a half

      might almost be called exorbitant in these days of cheap literature . amusement Of course may , any publish amateurs their who thoug can hts afford at any themselves price , even the if they can insure the support of three hundred aristocratic subscribers , and a wide circulation in Belgrave square from numrisking ber one criticism to forty inclusive in any form , without ; but attracting as the abuse public of notoriety quotations or from the Owl ' s well-informed columns is gaining ground , we

      should like to look through the four and a half pages of the current number to judge for ourselves whether the publication deserves to be honourably mentioned , and for what . So we have bought a Number ; and though we have always understood that good wine needs no bush , we see that four pages and a half of OwPs light requires a whole page of Ivybush , by Richard Doyle , to make them acceptable . With the aid of the little school-Latin left to us after a university education , we opine that the Oiai ' s motto being

      llcllldZcllCU . UlCcllJ £ > lllcll IlULilllJy VVJ . 11 UC U 11 UC 1 LclK . t ; il 111 VVUXU Ul deed which may not be agreeable to the Goddess of Wisdom . From which we infer , on inspecting the first page that the Goddess passed most of her days on the back stairs of Government offices , and finished her evenings with convivial but too confidential Oueen ' s messengers . Most of us could advance the probability of Mr . Disraeli doing this that or the other without possessing the Premier's ear , or attaching his button-hole ; but to be given to understand that the office of hereditary Drysalter to the Admiralty , or to hear that the Governorship of Bohea Tea-gardens is to be bestowed or not bestowed on Sir J eremy Diddler , Bart ., or was offered to or refused by the Hon . Rowland O'Donto , can only emanate from gentlemen posted up in all the latest news at the fountain-head . The only real fact suggested after a perusal of these short

      paragraphs is that there must be some of the civil servants of the Crown who are making " copy" of the unpublished and private intelligence of which some inklings pass through their ment own , departments or a stray flirtation . Here , leads and there them , to too announce , a suspected marriages engage in - the aristocratic world which makes one almost imagine that the Owl must be conducted by Jenkins himself—dear old Thackeray Buttons , who ' s own , in consequence Jenkins—the , is sub continuall -editorshi y p tri being pping confided up in his to efforts to imitate his powdered superior . which But we appears have turned to be a over very to feeble what effort may be to get called fun the out Leader of the , ark still . lf »«; The ci «; f writer » r » c ; f »_ has T-T p » t certainly ** ll <; nc " got At . little f / i / j fun piiti in nf his Jtpi' article r-rufvp , and *\\ e *

      ark's ) ? wthmg besides herself was left on the surface of the oc Mount ean . " Ararat But the . ark was left , at the end of her cruise , resting on But of course , Scripture History does not form a part of modern education , so we can proceed to " The Matrimonial have Co-Qperative taken up Association this journal . " , that We there have remarked is always , whenever at least one we column reserved by a contributor for the expression of his scorn and of mammas Sand Department who have , rejected with a prospect him , —him of , £ a i $ clerk o a year in the in Wafe seven r

      years , and the talent to write satire against mammas-in-law . Another class of contribution , of which this pithy paper seems to the possess heading reams " Tail . in " hand A tedious , is typ prosy ified by account an article —anything rejoicing but in a description—of an after-dinnerparty : such a would-be satirical detail of matter-of-fact incidents as a Shropshire clergyman ' s clever daughter , who had never quitted her native county , might have written for a local bankrupt newspaper . Without wishing to be hard on what is evidently the first attempt at li ub f Ava iuvuib f f f i * a \ r - \ > w u i nil - 1 a * rv * vn i * f \ * ji "v * Tl t « 4-4 * * " * % ¦* e » m « v ? x « "n *» I- > f- * Ki ^ l « - » . r » 4 * ««* *^ «««¦) r * {» * - «

      ^ * pan j-riibivjiiovv \_ , cuiiu ino icioi . vvisxuo cttail is a mistake . " , which After seems fording to with be to some rodis difficulty ts what Box parody and on Cox Bonnie is to a Dundee mateur actors , we arrive at two pa columns of verse in prose , or prose in verse Buttons , entitled , and is for the most nier . part This in also words is evidentl of one sy llable work . As of

  • Citation
    • Tomahawk (1867-1870), March 28, 1868, page 131, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/t/issues/ttw_28031868/page/9/