KIPLING'S CURSE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 51, 23 November 1907, Page 13

KIPLING'S CURSE.

Kiplingites will bo interested in tho famous "curso" which thoir author,' disgusted by 'America during his tour of; that country in 1889, sent to the "Pioneer Mail," an ludian jusft/iJrep_nn4o^., o jiße eß JMrsg t V f i fi of nothing' m particular.:,-•,.Here it,.is.;rr - "Then I.cursed the Seaside Library and tho United States that bred it very copiously, in•• these.,termsi.ahd-others-.'unreported: .'/ "Becauso you steal tho property of a mail's head,' which is more his peculiar property than his. pipe, his horse or his wife, and because you glory in your theft and have the indecency to praiso or criticise the author from whom you . steal, and becauso your ignorance, which is as dense as a pickpocket's ignorance, of anything outside his calling, leads you to trifle with his spelling,' and because you print tho stolen property aforesaid'very vilely and uncleanly, you shall be cursed with this . curse, from Alaska to Florida and back again. , "Your women shall scream like peacocks when 1 .they talk, . and your men' neigh . like horses when they laugh. You shall call "round", raouhd," and "very" "yarry," and "news", "noos" till the end of time.

"You shall be governed:by the Irishman and the German, the, vendor, of drinks and ,tho. keeper of vile den's, that your streets may be filthy in your midst and your sowago arrangements filthier., ■~.-,,. , -, "You shall bo given over to the cult of tin ; pot secret societies and the organising of '. "tuppeny-hapenny" i processions, tho Bpouting of npnsohso _ and the perpetration thereof. '■"■ ' . .' "

"You shall be,governed by laws that you cannot enforce, and sontimentsjthat youcca r not -control, that' tho murderer may walk among yon a vision, of delight to young women, and tho darling of old maids while you aro ongaged in shooting the wrong man. "You shall prostitute and pervert'the English language till an Englishman has neither power- nor dosiro 'to understand' you any more. "..'.'. '''■'..■,

"You shall be ourscd. State by State, Territory by Territory, with a provincialism beyond provincialism of ah English country town—you and your governors and what|you are pleased to call' your litoraturo, your nowspapors, and your politics. "You sliall buy your art from Franco and considerably spoil it'in tho buying' because you aro dishonest. . "You hoarts shall be so blinded that/you shall consider each ono of the curses foregoing a blessing to you as it comes about, and, finally,. I myself -will curso you'more elaboratoly later on."