Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1890-01-02

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so TOOK MY Rifle AND ROSE TO co.
my mind At last it 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 Kaftirs,
near to where the town of Cradock now
stands and hero | grew to manhood.
There were few Boer farmers in the
neighborhood, and graduallya little set
Element of whites gathered around our
mission station. drunken Scotch
blacksmith and wheelwright was about
the most interesting character, who,
when he was sober. could quote the
Scottish poet Burns and the "In-
goldsby Legends" literally by the page.
1t was from him that | contracted a
fondness for the latter amusing writ
ings which has never left me. Burns
/ never cared for so ~luch, probably be-
cause of the Scottish dialect which re-
PEELED me. What little education got
was from my father, but | never had
much leaning toward books, nor he
much time to teach them to me. On the
other hand, ] was always a keen OBJ
server OF the ways Of men and nature.
BY the time / was twenty could speak
Dutch and three or four Kaftir dialects
perfectly, and doubt if there was any
body in South Africa who understood
native ways of thought and action more
completely than / did. Also | was
really q very good shot and horseman,
and think -as, indeed, my subsequent
career proves to have been the Casa
great deal tougher than tho majority OF
nen Though ] was then, as now, a
light, small man, nothing seemed to
tire me. | could bear any amount of
exposure and priva5ion, and never met
the native who was my master in feats
of endurance. OF course all that is diff
ferent now: ! N speaking Of my early
manhood.
Itmay be wondered that | did not run
absolutely wild in such surroundings,
but was held back from this by my IA
TIERS society. He was one of the
gentlest and most refined men that /
ever met; even the most savage Kaffir
loved him, and his influence was very
good one for me. He used to call him
self one Of the worlds failures. Would
that there were more such failures!
Every evening when his work was done
he would take his prayer-book, and, sit
ting on the little stoop Of our station,
would read the evening psalms to him
self. Sometimes there was not light
enough for this, but it made no diff
ference; he knew them all by heart.
When he had finished he would look out
across the cultivated lands where tho
mission Kaffirs 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 good deal, saying that
she had never been out of his mind for
q single day during all these years, and
that he rejoiced to think he was draw
ing near the land whittier she had
gone Then he asked me If | remem-
bered that night when Squire Carson
came into the study at tho vicarage, and
told him that his wife had run away,
and that he was going to change his
name and bury himself in some remote
land.
said that remembered it perfect
~.
II wonder where he went to, said my
father, "and if he and his daughter
Stella are still alive. Well, WE'LL
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 hsd oeen
suffering moro than usual from the
of the Kafiir thieves, who
stole our sheep at night. and, as had
done before, and not without success, l
had determined to watch the kraal and
see If could catch them. Indeed, it was
from this habit Of mine Of watching at
night that first got my native name Of
MacumazaAn, which may be roughly
translated as ''he who sleeps with one
eye open" So took my rife and rose to
90. But he called mo to him and kissed
me on the forehead, saying: God
bless you. Allan ! hope that you will
think of your old father sometimes, and
that you will lead a good and happy
life"
remember that did not much like
his tone at tho time, but set it down TO
an attack Of low spirits, to which he
grew very subject as the years went on.
l went down to the kraal and watched
till within an hour Of sunrise; then, as
no thieves appeared, returned to the
station. As came near | was aston
ished to see a figure sitting in my
fathers chair. At first | thought it
must be drunken Kaffir, then that my
father had fallen asleep there. And 50
he had, indeed for he was dead