The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1890-02-19

30 TOOK MY RIFLE AND ROSE TO GO.
dead in her coffin, with flowers In her
hand. Along the wall Of the room were
arranged three little white beds, and on
each Of the beds lay one Of my brothers.
They all looked as though they were
asleep, and they Ill had flowers in their
hands. Ny father TOD me to kiss them
all, because / should not see them any
more, and l did 80, though was very
frightened. / did not know why. Then
he took me in his arms and kissed me.
''The Lord hath given, he said, ''and
the Lord hath taken away; blessed be
the name Of the Lord"
cried very much, and he took me
downstairs, and after that / have only
a confused memory Of men dressed in
black carrying heavy burdens towards
the gray churchyard!
Next comes vision OF great ship
and wide, tossing waters. My father
could no longer bear TO live in England
after the loss that had fallen on him,
and made up his mind to emigrate to
South Africa. We must have been poor
at the time, indeed. | believe that a
large portion OF our income went from
my father on my mothers death. At
any rate we Travelled with the steerage
passengers, and the intense discomfort
Of the journey, with the rough ways OF
our fellow emigrants, still remains upon
my mind. At last 1t came to an end,
and we reached Africa, which was not
to leave again for many, many years
In those days civilization had not made
any great progress in Southern Africa.
My father went up the country and be-
came missionary among the Kaffirs,
near to where the town OF Cradock now
stands, and here l grew to manhood.
There were few Boer farmers in the
neighborhood, and gradually a little set
tlement Of whites gathered around our
mission station. A drunken Scotch
blacksmith and wheelwright was about
the most interesting character who,
when he was sober, could quote the
Scottish poet Burns and the SIN.
goldsby Legends" literally by the page.
1t was from him that l contracted q
fondness for the latter amusing writ
lngs which has never left me. Burns
| never cared for so much, probably be-
cause Of the Scottish dialect which re-
pelled me. What little education got
was from my father, but l never had
much leaning toward books, nor he
much time to teach them TO me. On the
other hand, l was always keen OBJ.
server OF the ways Of men and nature.
BY the time / was twenty could speak
Dutch and three or four Kaffir dialects
perfectly, and ] doubt II there was any.
body in South Africa who understood |
native ways Of thought and action more
completely than ! did. Also was
really very good shot and horseman,
and think-as, indeed, my subsequent
career proves TO have been the case--s
great deal tougher than the majority Of
Ten. Though was then, as now, Q
light, small man, nothing seemed 70
tire me. l could bear any amount OF
exposure and privation, and never mel
the native who was my master in feats
Of endurance. OF course all that Is diff.
ferent now; am speaking Of my early
IL may be wondered that did not run
absolutely wild in such surroundings,
but was held back from this by my fa-
theirs society. He was one OF the
gentlest and most refined men that
ever met, even the most savage Kafiir
loved him, and his influence was very
good one for me. He used 10 call him
'elf one Of the worlds failures. Would
hat there were more such failuresl
Every evening when his work was done
40 would take his prayer-boolx, and, sit
ing on the little stoop Of our station,
would read the evening psalms TO him
elf Sometimes there was not Light