The Indianapolis journal., 1895-12-08
THE BOER WOMAN.
Plain Enough, but Kissed from the
Cradle to the Grave.
Boston Transcript.

Boston Transcript.
The Boer woman is unlovable in appear
ance: graces and modern accomplishments
are unknown to her. Handsome she is not,
nor is her temper angelic. Her cooking
would often kill an ostrich, and her voice
Is not attuned to harmony. All that not
withstanding, the most kissed being on
cradle to the grave she is kissed-by great
grandfather and great-grandmother, by her
grandfather and grandmother; OF course,
by her granduncles and aunts. by cousins.
male and female, to the last degree of kim
ship. She is kissed by the relatives of the
above and by their relatives. Her brothers
and brothers-in-law, her sisters and Sis
ters-in-law and all their children Kiss her.
So does her sweetheart and all her female
children, and all their relatives and female
friends, residing long or short under her
roof. kiss her repeatedly every day, s
Whether she and her husband are in good
circumstances or not he buys or sells moth
ing without asking her advice and abiding
by it. He undertakes no work without her
sanction. She commands her married son
of fifty in the same way that she did when
as chiidiike. She calls her husband by his
Christian name to her. friends. To others
if ne is her baas." NO" he is her man.
"What white woman" she asks you ever
had master? Do you take me for Kaf-
The Boer woman could not conceive the
idea of having a master. In poverty most
dire she has had from infancy at least one
black servant Like her mothers before
her. she would see her daughters perish
with hunger before she would allow them to
go as domestic servants. They are in her
eyes the equal of the most high-born danes
in any land, and servants they shall never
be. She detests the thought OF her sons
working for an employer, but often has 10
give way on that point.
The Boer woman has often been held up
as lazy, dull, stupid and dirty. greater
calumny has never been uttered against any
dependence makes her appear so to the
European lady or gentleman who knows
nothing Of the conditions OF life that have
formed her customs and made her what
she Is at present.
The Boer woman, with her children, would
retire to the most acrid desert OF Africa and
live on air sooner than dwell at ease and
in luxury where she contrasted UNI iavorably
with her neighbors She scorns the 81 ght-
est patronage extended to her, no matter
from whom.
She has inherited an innate love of bright
colors and beautiful things. When she can
not obtain these things she is content to
wear the saddest colored garments and not
be troubled at the most sordid and dreary
surroundings
She rules her man kind with a rod Of
iron. They do not know Ii, however, nor
does she suspect II. All OF them would take
oath that the exact reverse was the case.
Ask her to speak in church or on a plat
form anywhere and she would imagine you
to be crazy. THAT is a mans business,
she would say. Nevertheless, Mrs. Boer
would see TO it that her man" or son
would say in church or on a platform just
exactly what she wished said. Woman's
rights as understood by the American wom-
an would be utterly incomprehensible TO
the Boer woman, were they never so clearly
explained.