Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-12-29

cried very natsch, and he took mt
downstairs, and after that have only a
confused memory OF men dressed il
! black carrying heavy burdens towards
the gray churchyard.
Next comes . vision of a great shir
and wide tossing waters Ny father
could no longer bear to Hve4in England
after the loss that had fallen on him,
and made up his mind to enigrate to
South Africa. We must ave been 200,
at the time; indeed, belle re that a large
portion of our income went from nv
father on ny mothers death. At anv
rate we travelled with the steerage pas.
sengers, and the intense discomfort %
the journey with the rough ways of GU,
fellow enigrants still remain upon nv
mind. At last it came to an end, and
we reached Africa, which / was not tu
leave again for many, mWIy years. In
those days civilization hSj not made any
great progress in southern Africa. Nv
father went up the cou ntrv and became
a missionary among II .e Kaffirs, near to
where the town of On dock now stands,
and here l grew t., manhood. There
were few Boer farr aers in the neighbour
hood, and gradually a little settlement
| of whites gathered round our mission
station-a drunks n Scotch blacksmith
and wheelwright was about the most in
teresnng characs er, who, when he was
sober, could q aote the Scottish poet
Burns and the 'Ingoldsby Legends" lit
orally by the page. It was from him
that contract ed a fondness for the Lat
ter amusing writings which has never
left me.
Burns l II ever cared for so much.
probably bee ause Of the Scottish dialect,
which repeU ed me. What little educa-
ton l got was FROM my father, but I
never had much leaning toward books.
nor he much time to teach them to me.
On the other hand, was always keen
observer of the ways of men and ma
ture. By the time that I was 30 could
speak Dutch and three or four Kaffir
dialects perfectly. and I doubt if there
was anybody in South Africa who I'M
derstood native ways Of thought and
action more completely than did. Also
I was REALLY good shot and horseman.
and l thGnk.-as, indie I'd, my SUBSEQUENT
career proves to hs We been the Casa
great deal tougher than the majority of
men.
1t may s'e wond .ered that did not run
absolutely wild in such surroundings.
but / was he'll. back from this bv nv
fathers society He was enc of the gen.
tlest and mo st refined men that ever
met; even th e most savage Kafir loved
him, and his influence was a very.good
one for mo He used to call himself one
OF the Wort DIS failures. Would that there
were NOR such failures Every evening
when hls work was done he would take
his pray er book, and, sitting on the little
stcop our station, would read the even
ing ps aims to himself. Sometimes there
was lot light enough for this, but it made
no itference, he knew them all by heart.
WI .en he had finished he would look out
a0 loss the cultivated lands where the
Mission Kahirs had their huts.
But knew it was not these he saw. but
rather the gray English church, and the
graves ranged side by side before the yew
near the wicket gate.
1t was there on the stoop that he died,
He had not been well, and one evening
/ was talking to him, and his mind went
back to Oxfordshire and my mother,
He spoke of her a good deal. saying that
she had never been out Of his mind for
a single day during all these years, and
that he rejoiced TO think he was draw
ing near that LAID whittier she had gone,
Then he asked me if remembered that
night when Squire Carson came into
the study at the vicarage, and told him
that bis wife had run away, and that
he was going to change his name and
bury himself IN some remote land.
l said that 1 remembered it perfectly.
81 wonder where he went to-" said
my father, land if he and his daughter
Stella are stil alive. WeL- well. L shall
never meet them again. But life is
strange thing. Allan, and you may. If
you ever do, give them my kind love"
After that left him. We had been
suffering more than us dal from the dep
relations Of the katfD thieves, who stole
our sheep at night, o nd, as 1 had done
before, and not VII ohout success, had
determined to wat0 the kraal and see if
could catch then. Indeed, it was from
this habit of nins of watching at night |
that | first got " ~ native name of Ma
WHY III may be roughly trans
lated as she Who sleeps with one eye
OPEN" So 1 took my rifle and rose to |
go. But he allied me to him and kissed |
me ON the fc rehead, saying, ''God bless
you, Allan. | hope that you will think |
Of your old father sometimes, and that |
you will le i'd a good and happy Life"
l remen der that l did not much like
his tone o t the time, but set it down TO
an attao Of low spirits. to which he
grew ve " subject as the years went ON.
l went Town to the kraal and watched
till wit min an hour Of sunrise, then. as
no thu ,ves appeared, returned to the sta
hon. As l came near was astonished
to SEQ afigure sitting in my fathers chair.
At I'll rst l thought it must be a drunken
kstflr, then that my father had fallen
asleep there. And so he had, indeed, for
he was dead!
CHAPTER II.
HEN had