The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-03-31

] AaANAE - Jul NIUE lMAAlAnL IN the Trans
Vaal al any time Of the year, and fire.
| quenuy sunset-Often a glorious specta-
| cle-is succeeded by darkness within half
an hour, sometimes greatly 10 the incon-
venience OF the belated traveller. The
homestead seemed a busy and prosperous
one. Kaffirs, who are generally the drOv-
! ers. the shepherds. the hewers of wood
and the drawers Of water on a Trans
vaal farm. We're busy getting the four
footed live stock into the kraals, a white
| woman was manOuvering the fowls to
| their place Of rOost smoke was briskly
| ascending from the chimney Of the cook
, huis Okitchen) behind. John could almost
imagine he saw the other familiar sight
Of a Boer homestead-the owner himself
/ placidly seated on the stoep (veranda).
| smoking his farm-grown tobacco and
drinking coffee at intervals.
And there IS this characteristic about
South African rural homesteads.
| When you pass farm and
observe large barn and a
! small house, you may know that the man
/ is haas. a Dutch word which has
strong hold upon colonial speech. and
/ from which we have derived our boss"
/ Originally this meant simply a master or
! overseer. but now anyone who has the
I least control is the 'baas." If two people
do not agree the one who carries his
\ point Is the "baas" The head of a party
! politically is the "baas." Amongst gold
| miners the word has even been turned into
/ a verb and the man who undertakes any
/ duty or business bosses the job" When,
however. you see a fine house and dilap-
| idated barn, you may understand that
| the woman has things her own way. And
/ when there is a new house and a good
show Of farm buildings. you may take It
for granted that the woman and the man
are about equal.
To make Johns position genuinely I'M
| pleasant indications of unsettled weather
became apparent. and signs that a Trans
vaal tempest-not a thing to joke about
was rapidly approaching. so he decided
to make for the homestead with all speed.
and began to run. But suddenly, as in
many subtropical lands, the storm clouds
collected, the sky rapidly became over
cast, and 1t seemed that old Aquarius had
tilted his pitcher in earnest for a small
deluge Of rain descended. EDWARDS John
ran towards the farm house, as he thought,
but the storm. in this brief time even. had
obliterated all land marks, and he found
that he had lost his road. Then darkness
black. inky, Zimmerman, came on, in
creasing his difficulties, and It was not I'M
I'll two hours later tired. drenched, hung
~, that he reached dwelling
At another time he might have been
somewhat surprised to find at this Sc
questered place house evidently aban-
doned and much out OF repair, indeed a
fpAiioh Oh lut FOOT ndu fallen IN. Put
the feeling was more one of ratitude at
obtaining even this shelter, unpromising
and cherries as 1t seemed, when he had
forced open the decaying door and enter
ed the passage. His garments and blanket
which is an essential of South African
travel-were soaked. but. fortunately. his
matches, which had been kept in a steel
box, were dry and serviceable Having
torn away some of the woodwork for
fuel he had soon a bright little fire. and
| under uncongenial circumstances he es-
sayed the task of getting his clothes
dried, and making a couch for the night.
A little bread and biltong-the name given
to flesh preserved after primitive fash
ion-and a few sips from his shirt flask
formed his frugal repast. pipe of
Transvaal tobacco-best of all smokes. I
honestly affirm-helped further to soothe
natures admonitions, and John began 10
feel that unsatisfactory as was his lode-
ing, still he might have been in worse
Llhght Many a Traveller caught in a
Transvaal thunderstorm has persisted.
and the vultures have picked his flesh 10
the bones ere another traveller came that
way
Yet 1t was lonely. eerie place, and as
John began to muse a little somewhat Of
an uncomfortable dread fell upon him
he was of a slightly romantic and senti-
mental nature. but in nowise sunersti
things. he knew well that less harm has
been done by the dead in six thousand
years than is wrought by the living in
every twenty-four hours But he could
not subdue an extraordinary feeling of
sadness that came over him and rem
dered sleep. for the time out of all dues-
ton, unusually fatigued though he was
And are there not some places where
we seem to breathe sadness ?-whv We
cannot tell. 1t appears to be a chain of
recolleetions-an idea which carries
one back to other times and other
places which very likely have no connec-
ton with the present time and place.
John hayne began to feel that ne was
under some strange spell, some unnat-
ural, possibly supernatural influence the
like of which he had never before known.
We all know that it is not in moments
OF personal happiness or success that we
lean with any great eagerness toward the
| supernatural Glimpses of the ordinary
Invisible, or of world to come are
vouchsafed chiefly to those who are in
dire sorrow, those who weep, those who
fall by the way, and in proportion as the
radiance of this life brightens fades the
faint aurora Of the other John had a
vision, and dreamt "a dream that was
not all a dream" The physical povers
partially collapsed, and a weird. pene-
trating light seemed to fill the room.
which appeared to be furnished in the
| orthodox Boer fashion.
An old man was sitting on chair bv the
! table, The old man spoke and big. fair
/ well-proportioned young woman entered
| with basin of coffee, which she handed
to him, speaking all the while in short
| snappish sentences. The pair conversed
/ for some time, he energeticadly. and the
woman with an angry demeanor Then
the clatter of horses hoofs was hea I'd
! outside, and pitable, anxious look gath
| cred over the old mans face. A powerful
/ ly built young man, with foxy look in the
eyes and sandy whiskers On the sides If
! his face, entered. First he Uvinked AT the
woman, then shook hands with the old
| man., in Boer fashion, and sat down
! There was conversat ton in muffled tones
the old man rose quickly gazed at his
| half-emptied basin of coffee. and fell for
| ward on his face as if overcome by some
potent drug. A few words rapidly passed
/ between the sandy-whiskered man and t,a
young woman. The latter with ter-ifla
| look on her face left the room, to rat,,rr
almost Immediately with an ak. Holm
| gazed on this scene helpless and horror
| struck utterly deprived of power to sa,,aal,
or move. The now frightful-loolSine v-o-
man stepped up to the insensible old man
and dealing blow, with both hands ON
] thasn al, I.g