DOI issue:
September 14, 1861
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16868#0118
106
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
[September 14, 1861.
REAL ENJOYMENT.
Charley (who is wet through for the ninth time). “ Oh, Ma ! We’ye been so Jolly ! We’ve
been Filling one another’s Hair with Sand, and making Boats of our Boots, and
HAVING SUCH EUN ! ”
NAPOLEON TO NONO.
On the Eve of the Removal of the French Army
from Rome.
Holy Father, ere we part,
Take, oh ! take my words to heart.;
And if they disturb thy rest
Think them uttered for the Dest.
Hear my counsel ere I go :
Shut up shop, Pio Noso!
By thy Saints, whose pictures wink
While thou art on destruction’s brink:
By thy priests, who in their sleeve
Deride thee, though they feign to grieve:
By thy “friends” I bid thee go.
Shut up shop, Pio Nono !
By thy brigands unconfined,
Raisers of the papal wind :
By the hate their deeds have sown
Por thee, and for thy rotten throne:
By thy foes I bid thee go,
Shut up shop, Pio Nono !
By thy want of common sense,
By thy lack of Peter’s pence;
By the cropper thou wilt come
When French support is ordered home.
Away thy temporal power throw:
Shut up shop, Pio Nono !
Holy Father, when I’m gone,
Fly to England quick, alone:
Hire a cosy lodging there,
A three-pair back in Leicester Square:
There at thine ease thy ’bacca blow.
And die in peace, Pio Nono !
What way will the Pneumatic Railway go ?
Why of course, through Hollo (w)way.
BOYS PLAYING AT BLOODSHED.
One would think that a battle-field was a playground, and that a
battle was somewhat of the nature of a game at football, judging from
the sportive manner in which the horrors of war are generally; narrated
by the gentlemen who witness them. For instance, in describing the
battle of Springfield, a correspondent of the Missouri Democrat thus
writes:—
“ The enemy came fresh and deceived our men by bearing a Union flag, causing
them to believe Sigel was about making a junction with our forces. Discovering
the ruse just in time, our gallant boys rushed upon the enemy, who, with four
cannon belching forth loud mouthed thunder, were on the point of having their
efforts crowned with success, and again drove them with great loss down the slope
on the south side of the hill. ”
“ Our gallant boys rushed upon the enemy.” Why “ boys ” ? Is
reciprocal slaughter and mutilation child’s-play? Do martial com-
batants thrust bayonets into one another’s stomachs, and shoot each
other through the chest with rifle bullets, knock off their adversaries’
heads and limbs and get their own knocked off with cannon-balls, and
exchange bombshells by which, on either side, they are ripped np and
torn to pieces, for fun ? Are bleeding gashes, crushed limbs, scattered
brains merely the diverting incidents of a juvenile pastime ? If so, well
and good; if not, why “boys ? ”
When a collision occurs in a tunnel, or when an engine runs off the
line, and, two or three carriages being hurled down an embankment,
some ten or twenty passengers are consequently smashed to death, and
three, or four times as many are dismembered and lacerated, do we call
the victims and sufferers. “ boys ” and “ girls ? ” If not, why not, so
long as it is usual to describe as “boys ” adult men engaged in inflicting
and receiving injuries which are precisely similar if not more horrible.
Is there, amongst the mass of people, a gregarious kind of tacit
understanding that warfare and its occurrences shall he ordinarily
mentioned, related, and alluded to, in a vein of merriment, a light semi-
jocular style, characterised by that sort of playful fondness for com-
patriot-belligerents which is evinced in calling them “ boys ? ” Is it
generally felt that such levity of expression in narratives of military
carnage is advisable for the mutual encouragement of those who may be
called upon to engage in it or to contribute to its expenses ? The idea,
involved in the term “ hoys ” applied to troops in action, that war is
only a plucky puerile game, certainly suggests quite a cheerful view of!
an employment which consists in the interchange of diabolical outrages. |
. It does not appear to he thought expedient to call a man who goes to
the stake, or the block, for his creed or his country, a “hoy.” Phy-
sicians who risk their lives in combating a pestilence, are net deemed
suitable persons to be denominated “boys.” An army-surgeon who
coolly operates under fire, and thus shows more courage than anybody
else in the regiment, is the last person in it that anybody would, think
of styling a “ boy.” It is therefore not necessary to the exertion of
bravery that men should be cheered on to run into the cannon’s mouth
with the thoughtless impetuosity inspiring the sort of hero who is
commonly called a “boy,” but might with much greater propriety be
called a fool.
Anybody endowed with both bravery and brains must object as much
to being termed a “boy” as Coriolanus did. Juvenile boxers, at
Eton and elsewhere, may well enough be applauded as “ brave boys; ”
but in the word “ boy ” applied to a grown soldier, and in all the rest
of the sprightly cant which disguises war’s realities, there lurks a very
despicable and disgusting humbug.
ITALIAN THEATRICALS.
Until further notice,
THE BRIGAND.
To be followed by
THE VOLUNTEERS,
To Conclude with
FINISH HIM OFF!
Vivat Victor Emmanuel /] [Priests vn Arms not permitted.
VERY THOUGHTFUL IN HIM.
A Quack pamphleteer, trading on recent accidents, announces “ The
Coming Eire.” It will come towards the end of October, we suppose,
(at least cold evenings generally do) and then his pamphlet will also
come in handy enough. He is a philanthropist, but let his paper be
well dried, as there is not a greater bore than trying to light wood with
damp pages.
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
[September 14, 1861.
REAL ENJOYMENT.
Charley (who is wet through for the ninth time). “ Oh, Ma ! We’ye been so Jolly ! We’ve
been Filling one another’s Hair with Sand, and making Boats of our Boots, and
HAVING SUCH EUN ! ”
NAPOLEON TO NONO.
On the Eve of the Removal of the French Army
from Rome.
Holy Father, ere we part,
Take, oh ! take my words to heart.;
And if they disturb thy rest
Think them uttered for the Dest.
Hear my counsel ere I go :
Shut up shop, Pio Noso!
By thy Saints, whose pictures wink
While thou art on destruction’s brink:
By thy priests, who in their sleeve
Deride thee, though they feign to grieve:
By thy “friends” I bid thee go.
Shut up shop, Pio Nono !
By thy brigands unconfined,
Raisers of the papal wind :
By the hate their deeds have sown
Por thee, and for thy rotten throne:
By thy foes I bid thee go,
Shut up shop, Pio Nono !
By thy want of common sense,
By thy lack of Peter’s pence;
By the cropper thou wilt come
When French support is ordered home.
Away thy temporal power throw:
Shut up shop, Pio Nono !
Holy Father, when I’m gone,
Fly to England quick, alone:
Hire a cosy lodging there,
A three-pair back in Leicester Square:
There at thine ease thy ’bacca blow.
And die in peace, Pio Nono !
What way will the Pneumatic Railway go ?
Why of course, through Hollo (w)way.
BOYS PLAYING AT BLOODSHED.
One would think that a battle-field was a playground, and that a
battle was somewhat of the nature of a game at football, judging from
the sportive manner in which the horrors of war are generally; narrated
by the gentlemen who witness them. For instance, in describing the
battle of Springfield, a correspondent of the Missouri Democrat thus
writes:—
“ The enemy came fresh and deceived our men by bearing a Union flag, causing
them to believe Sigel was about making a junction with our forces. Discovering
the ruse just in time, our gallant boys rushed upon the enemy, who, with four
cannon belching forth loud mouthed thunder, were on the point of having their
efforts crowned with success, and again drove them with great loss down the slope
on the south side of the hill. ”
“ Our gallant boys rushed upon the enemy.” Why “ boys ” ? Is
reciprocal slaughter and mutilation child’s-play? Do martial com-
batants thrust bayonets into one another’s stomachs, and shoot each
other through the chest with rifle bullets, knock off their adversaries’
heads and limbs and get their own knocked off with cannon-balls, and
exchange bombshells by which, on either side, they are ripped np and
torn to pieces, for fun ? Are bleeding gashes, crushed limbs, scattered
brains merely the diverting incidents of a juvenile pastime ? If so, well
and good; if not, why “boys ? ”
When a collision occurs in a tunnel, or when an engine runs off the
line, and, two or three carriages being hurled down an embankment,
some ten or twenty passengers are consequently smashed to death, and
three, or four times as many are dismembered and lacerated, do we call
the victims and sufferers. “ boys ” and “ girls ? ” If not, why not, so
long as it is usual to describe as “boys ” adult men engaged in inflicting
and receiving injuries which are precisely similar if not more horrible.
Is there, amongst the mass of people, a gregarious kind of tacit
understanding that warfare and its occurrences shall he ordinarily
mentioned, related, and alluded to, in a vein of merriment, a light semi-
jocular style, characterised by that sort of playful fondness for com-
patriot-belligerents which is evinced in calling them “ boys ? ” Is it
generally felt that such levity of expression in narratives of military
carnage is advisable for the mutual encouragement of those who may be
called upon to engage in it or to contribute to its expenses ? The idea,
involved in the term “ hoys ” applied to troops in action, that war is
only a plucky puerile game, certainly suggests quite a cheerful view of!
an employment which consists in the interchange of diabolical outrages. |
. It does not appear to he thought expedient to call a man who goes to
the stake, or the block, for his creed or his country, a “hoy.” Phy-
sicians who risk their lives in combating a pestilence, are net deemed
suitable persons to be denominated “boys.” An army-surgeon who
coolly operates under fire, and thus shows more courage than anybody
else in the regiment, is the last person in it that anybody would, think
of styling a “ boy.” It is therefore not necessary to the exertion of
bravery that men should be cheered on to run into the cannon’s mouth
with the thoughtless impetuosity inspiring the sort of hero who is
commonly called a “boy,” but might with much greater propriety be
called a fool.
Anybody endowed with both bravery and brains must object as much
to being termed a “boy” as Coriolanus did. Juvenile boxers, at
Eton and elsewhere, may well enough be applauded as “ brave boys; ”
but in the word “ boy ” applied to a grown soldier, and in all the rest
of the sprightly cant which disguises war’s realities, there lurks a very
despicable and disgusting humbug.
ITALIAN THEATRICALS.
Until further notice,
THE BRIGAND.
To be followed by
THE VOLUNTEERS,
To Conclude with
FINISH HIM OFF!
Vivat Victor Emmanuel /] [Priests vn Arms not permitted.
VERY THOUGHTFUL IN HIM.
A Quack pamphleteer, trading on recent accidents, announces “ The
Coming Eire.” It will come towards the end of October, we suppose,
(at least cold evenings generally do) and then his pamphlet will also
come in handy enough. He is a philanthropist, but let his paper be
well dried, as there is not a greater bore than trying to light wood with
damp pages.