Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-08-14
Il Beers.

pcople Who are Overpowerinely Ortho.
",no1 in,Their Political. mical and Ra.
,irious Creeds. y v
Not so long ago it was the custom
,,r all ministers of the Dutch Reformed
church to be educated in Holland, but
recently, it appears, the universal
snirit of progress has infected the re-
Ycious ideas of the divines of Holland.
and the Boer farmers have started a
GREAT college of their own at Stellen.
bosch, where their pastors may be edu-
Gated in the strict doctrine and creed
If their South African ancestors. And.
os in religion, so is it in ali their in
d%ustries. This is a great w~ine-growing
center, every farmer making 80 to 800
")eaeuers" (of 200 gallons each) of
vine each year. Much of this wine
has to be turned into good vinegar or
vile spirits, because there is no sale for
If. But if one points out to one of
these good farmers that if he made his
wine on the European system he would
make a beverage suited to the Europ-
Fan taste and salable then in any quan
titles at a good price, his reply is, mo;
whv should L? I and my family like
This wine and drink little else, and il
English people don't like it, it's
their loss, not minem And so the
farmer foregoes a great profit because
of his Tory belief in the unimprovable
nature of all the processes his forefath-
crs have handed down to him. So, too,
in his politics, his Conservatism. or
rather his Toryism, takes the shape of
regarding all Constitutional Govern
ments as "radical''-that is. as govern
ments to be resisted at every. turn.
Above all, he refuses altogether to pay
taxes unless positively compelled. He
has a shrewd-a peculiarly shrewd-
manner of reply, thoughtful, slow, but
logical. And on this matter of taxes
he will answer. mo! why should
pay? / get nothing in return that
could not supply myself with without
taxes" And it is remarkable how will
ing he is freely to supply himself, if he
is freely convinced it is good. His
clergy, of all others, have been able to
convince him of the benefit of support
ing the church. There is probably nc
country where the clergy are more free
ly and more literally supported. In
nearly every district the clergyman will
have an assured salary of $500 to $500,
a residence. extensive garden grounds,
presents ''in kind Wv ne, cheese, but.
ter, mealies, grapes and stock), and
standing bed and meal in every house
in his district. In later years the Boel
has become equally liberal in providing
for the education of his children, q lib.
erality prompted by a shrewd concep.
ton of the value in this world of this
%new-fangled reading, writing, and
arithmetic.
The Boer is commonly reported by
travellers to be supremely ignorant and
supremely INDECENT. There is undoubt-
eddy a basis of truth in these some.
what sweeping congratulations. By
force of circumstances the Boer is un.
doubtedly ignorant. He has lived in
uttermost seclus on, and he has lived
in great contentmeht until that Sc.
clusion was invaded. His standing
rule has been, Il must never be in
sight of my neighbours chimney" and
when traffic increased along his way,
or when residents came. he found bis
only relief in removing again INTO the
further wilderness. His tendency was
thus a perpetual endeavor to keep him.
self cut off from his fellows. Reading
and writing arequite a modern innova-
ton; few of the elder Beers have any
tknowledgeof either. AS a consequence,
the Boer has been both suspicious and
ignorant; and while, on the n hand
this has saved him again and AGAR
from being misled by the designing. il
has also led him to forego MANY and
many an advantage OF opportunity TO,
materially improving his position Oh
prospects. He is ready enough to be
Elieve anything that fits in with the
creed-political. economical or re-
:lligious-of his ancestors; of all else hi
is suspicious, unbelievingg, or ignorant.
South african Cor. London Times.