Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1881-04-21
A Transvaal Homestead.

Let us visit one OF the many homcsteads in
the gardens. The white walled house. al
though but one-store1 is well elevated. and
its roof is iron. Outside shutters of pleas
ant green flank the two windows, and the
door between them is green and paneled.
There is indeed, some pretense to architec-
ture, and the whole is well kept and substan-
tial. The sfoop is high and approached by
steps The water-course beneath it is ma
soned out with solid stone and bridgej with
the same 'material. Leafy trees of divers
sorts shade the place and the stables and out
houses in Its rear. We enter a rooyhpis, or
front room, very lofty and but Slightly fur
nished. Its walls are lined by benches, and
a table stands in the middle. There are
pictures, il may be, very quaint and Old
World; scenes in the life Of the Prodigal
Son. or INNINGS of the MaDger mt Bethle-
hem, or the Cross on Calvary. A new piano
may be noted. and good harmoninm. and
pous books with Dutch titles lie scattered
about. And there are flowers on table
and on mantle-piece, photographs and al
buns for there are daughters in the house.
In some place Of honor lies a great old BIZ
Bile. a massive folio bound in leather and
with brass clasps; it is printed in foreign
looking type on ancient-looking paper, and
full of the strangest pictures that ever de-
lighted the antquary or mystified the child.
companionable book upon dull occasion,
but disappointing, inasmuch as its date dis
covers il to have been printed but the other
dav. Spittoons stud this chambers floor,
for it is the great reception-room, and
visitors sit round it and smoke their pipes
at times and seasons Of conferences and
waiting: and manv such times there be.
At the back of this roorhuts is the dining
room. entered by large and even handsome
folding-doors. In both apartments the walls
are painted light blue, or green or mauve
in both the ceiling is raftered and wooden,
vanished and dark. The great feature Of
the dinng-room, apart from the usual fur
nishings. is a small table near the window,
with chair either side. Upon
this table stands coffee urn with
chafing-dish beneath it; and the day
has scarcely turned before this uri; begins to
steam and bubble. On its dexter side is
seated the lady Of the house, who pours out
coffee for all corners, and with feet well
planted on a box-like footstool, rules and
manages her household. Children play around
her, colored girl sits watchful at her feet,
and at favorable moments her lord and mas
ter occupies the corresponding chair, utters
familiar maxims and remarks, and his friend.
| sitting hard by, carries on an intermittent
conversation between wary mouthfuls Of the
scalding beverage. lie is a well-built man,
not unlike the English farmer Of our early
days. but more sallow and less CHEEKY, more
puritanical and staid. His ancestors came
| from Fra- ce and Holland, but in this won-
drous climate Of the Cape, perchance for ami
NAL life the finest under the sun their of
spring have developed into a race .ai gene,'is,
nobly grown and quite unlike the typical
| Hollander or Frenchman. We converse in
Dutch, the only language he cares to speak,
although his children are apt scholars In the
English tongue, snd by and BY he takes rs
into his garden.-TRe Contemporary Resiess.