Departmental Ditties & Barrack Room Ballads by Rudyard Kipling
page 9 of 149 (06%)
page 9 of 149 (06%)
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Organized a State Police; purified the. Civil Staff;
Settled cess and tax afresh in a very liberal way; Cut temptations of the flesh--also cut the Bukhshi's pay; Roused his Secretariat to a fine Mahratta fury, By a Hookum hinting at supervision of dasturi; Turned the State of Kolazai very nearly upside-down; When the end of May was nigh, waited his achievement crown. When the Birthday Honors came, Sad to state and sad to see, Stood against the Rajah's name nothing more than C. I. E.! * * * * * Things were lively for a week in the State of Kolazai. Even now the people speak of that time regretfully. How he disendowed the Jail--stopped at once the City drain; Turned to beauty fair and frail--got his senses back again; Doubled taxes, cesses, all; cleared away each new-built thana; Turned the two-lakh Hospital into a superb Zenana; Heaped upon the Bukhshi Sahib wealth and honors manifold; Clad himself in Eastern garb--squeezed his people as of old. Happy, happy Kolazai! Never more will Rustum Beg Play to catch the Viceroy's eye. He prefers the "simpkin" peg. THE STORY OF URIAH |
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