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THE T O M A H A W K. A SATURDAY JOURNAL ...
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No. 143.] * LONDON, JANUARY 29, 1870. [P...
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TUB MODBJRN MOLOCH.
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The happy season of Christinas is over —...
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.
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Transcript
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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.
The T O M A H A W K. A Saturday Journal ...
THE T O M A H A W K . A SATURDAY JOURNAL OF SATIRE . € Mtefc tp & xtt ) UT a & etk * tt + "INVITAT CULPAM QUI PECCATUM PRETERIT . "
No. 143.] * London, January 29, 1870. [P...
No . 143 . ] * LONDON , JANUARY 29 , 1870 . [ Price Twopence .
Tub Modbjrn Moloch.
TUB MODBJRN MOLOCH .
The Happy Season Of Christinas Is Over —...
The happy season of Christinas is over — that pleasant when season bills when come writs due are and as tailors plentiful clamorous as blackberries , —that jol in ly June time , , when to be poor is morethan ever a crime , and to lack bread more than usually contemptible . And being over its requiem can be sung in the Court of Bankruptcy , and its story may be written in the fat churchyard . val of the the year momen . No t , we longer have need done we with exhibit the great our p reli iety gious by g festi iving - children ' s parties , our charity by forcing our luckless creditors into the arms of Mr . Justice Bacon , our faith by cutting down our expenses in every direction . It is a sad heart that never rejoices , so the fashionable world must spend the three hundred and sixty-five days of 1870 in keeping up appearances and know enjoying no themselves end—ah , yes . , Love all must must be rei delig gn ht supreme and wild , pleasure merriment must —very wild merriment . Perhaps , before the actors in this tragic comedy begin to learn their parts , it may be as well to give our readers a bill of the play . First , then , the elders , age before honesty , size before worth . There are a mass of women who are guilty of the gravest crimes and yet who would be unutterably shocked if you told them that they were wicked—women attending the most fashionable churches , and possessing the most gorgeously bound prayer-books . These are they who shudder at the idea of a mesalliancewho cannot bear the contamination of the taint of trade . These ^ are they who regard with horror the " creatures " of the vicious world , and who find leprosy in the names of younger sons . They are very good , these matrons—very— -very good , and aristocratic , and noble , and refined—isn ' t it a pity that they should be merely hucksters and bargainers ? They are both . They use their daughters' charms for merchandise , their children ' s souls for speculation . They are not so unreasonable , after all . In exchange for their offspring they require but little . They are willing to sell youth , and truth , and beauty on very reasonable terms . They don ' t demand youth , and truth , and beauty in return . No ; they will sell their daughters without asking for a single quality in the purchasers they find . The . huckster to whom they sell their children ' s charms may be old , a scoundrel , a thief , a bully . "What matters it to them if the man is tottering on the very edge of the grave , is known as a man to be avoided , a man who has gained notoriety by violence and debauchery ? What matters it to
them ? So long as their daughters' husbands are rich and by of moving Moloch them in . society And it it is , is they these these may wretches women be demons who who are li , and ht the the yet Hi fires gh Priestesses the respected flames of which burn ; but to destroy the souls of g the innocent and the inexperienced . It is these creatures who fill our hearts with the greatest disgust when we watch them , plying their loathsome trade— striking their diabolical bargains ! After the assassins the victims . A painful sight ! Beautiful paintings ruthlessly ruined ! noble temples basely defiled ! Set the world rolling and it rolls on for ever . Poor children , how quickly have they learned the lessons set for them ! They have turned their hearts into money bags . What matters it to them if they greater gather pleasure up for than themselves display ; harvests have no of grander misery ambition ! They know than the no must rivalling Earl into be decked of matrimony their contemporaries with , diamonds Louise must . ; if If wed Josep Mari a a hine gouty wears invei M rubies arquis gles , a . Blanche veteran False hair , false hearts , false lives must be their stock-in-trade . If if truth Nature is harsh is not , harsh sufficientl truth y must seductive give the , to pas Nature to ' honeyed s aid must lies— be called the rouge , the blanc de fierle of art ! The end of their lives must be gold ; the God of their souls Mammon . If a mistake is made—if the Earl is a thought too aged , or the Marquis a trifle too gouty , are there not others in the world ? Yes their , with nature their , a training lie their the commonest road is open diplomacy to them —surel ; deception y , then , is a substitute may be found for matrimonial happiness . If the worst come to the worst there is always the Divorce Court ready to receive them , with a month of retirement in the present , and a score of years of tracts in the future ! Avarice , a drama , Act I . ! Vice , a comedy , Act II . !! Sanctity , a farce , Act III . ! ! ! And so we have drawn Society as the Modern Moloch . Are we not right ? What human sacrifice can there be more terrible than the mother sacrificing the child ? what spectacle can there be more hideous than the poor victims hastening to the unhallowed altar ? And for so little ! For wretched dross , which brings with it no joy—for empty titles , which carry with them no distinction ! But it will continue . Sermons may be preached , and articles written , and yet the fires will be burning . Worship is natural to the human race . The Oriental bows down before the Sun , and prays to his idols j but the Europeans find a God in Society . A wretched deity , a false , false God ; but one to be obeyed , and served , and respected . One to be loathed and cursed for ever .
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Citation
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Tomahawk (1867-1870), Jan. 29, 1870, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/t/issues/ttw_29011870/page/1/
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