[MT welcoming the new century] | 28 Jan. 1901
Der Deutsche correspondent. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.), 28 Jan. 1901. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045081/1901-01-28/ed-1/seq-2/>
Mark Twain's "Salutation-Speech from the Nineteenth Century to the Twentieth" was widely reprinted and later translated by the German-language press. The original text can be found - among other places - in Scharnhorst, Mark Twain on Potholes and Politics, p.163.
Key to annotations on German translations of Mark Twain's original texts
| Transcription | English Translation/Original Text |
|---|---|
| Mark Twain verfaßte folgenden Begrüßungsspruch des 19. Jahrhunderts an das 20.: | {Mark Twain penned the following greeting from the 19th century to the 20th:} |
| „Ich bringe Ihnen die stattliche Matrone, genannt Civilisation, auf der Rückreise von Piraten-Ausflügen nach Kiautschou, der Mandschurei, nach Südafrika und den Philippinen, beschmutzt und entehrt, mit einer Seele voll Niedertracht, mit den Taschen voll Beute und mit einem Mund voll Heuchelei. Gebt ihr Seife und ein Handtuch, doch versteckt den Spiegel!“ | “I bring you the stately matron named Christendom [translated as "Civilisation"], returning bedraggled, besmirched, and dishonored, from pirate raids in Kiaochow, Manchuria, South Africa, and the Philippines, {dirtied and dishonored} with her soul full of meanness, her pocket full of boodle, and her mouth full of pious hypocrisies. Give her soap and towel, but hide the looking glass. |