The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1896-01-17

SoUNb AtFicu
The word Bocr means Il farmer, ant
four word "hoor" is derived from thu
same stock 1t originally signiiied
rough, uncultivatcd person. AS ever.
one knows. the Beers are Dutchmen,
descendants of the adventurous Hol
landers who settled ON Cape Colony
in 1862. They were a sturdy, inue-
pendent lot of pioneers, these Dutch
men, and many of them. rather than
submit to English dominion, when the
colony was ceded in 1913, cmigrated te
the north. The same instructive love
of freedom which animated the first
American settlers was characteristic OF
the Beers, and as the British ad
vanced. they ''trekkcd" with their
.vrouws, their Children and their
household goods ever deeper and deep
or into Il more savage Wilderness then
North America over had. Successive
" the ,,ocr republics Of Stella Land
and Land of Goshen were formed
only to be trampled down by the
stronger power. Fertile Natal was
wrestcd from them and the great
trek I'll across the Orange River was
made. The Orange Free State became
but geographical ramc and, cmigrat
inc once more. the indomitablc Dutch
| farmers took possession of the Trans
yaal region, carving out their home III
the face of fcrocious difficulties. fight
Ing against swarming savages and in
shutting their republic on the Dark
Continent. Here they have made their
last stand. England, defeated in her
attempt to "anncX'' them in 1881,
has appropriated territory southwest,
and north of the little state. Portugal
holds the land to the east, along the
coast. The Transvaal is hemmcd IN
by reedy and jealous enemies.
He lives in a small and wretchcdly
kent and furnished house, the most
conspicuous articles of which are a
small Dutch organ and large family
Bible, for he is a convcntionallv pious
man. He cultivates very small patch
Of his farm and leaves the rest as
nature gives it. to grazing, purposes,
and relies on his tioclls and herds.
And yet this farmer of the wilder
ness rough and uncouth and often
surly and suspicious as he is, has It
great and stirring history behind him
in South Africa, of which he is and
has right to be proud. He and his
have struggled and trekked and warred
mad been mastered and have suffered |
in blood and purse and pastoral wealth
these $50 years past. | doubt whether |
even an equal number of English peas
ants, farmers, soldiers and settlers, of |
they had been planted at the Cape in
1862 as the carly Dutch were would |
have emerged from the long struggle /
so little spoiled, and having lost little
of their national characteristics.
The Dutch Afrikanders are still of
pure European blood, they still cling
with the simplest and sublimest faith
to the literal teaching of their Bibles,
still cherish with deep affection their
wives and families, still 60 about
nerding and hunting and trekking in
the old slow, unconquerable, logged
spirit of their ancestors, still turn
their faces north, and as their pastures
yrow small and crowded, trek for new
ands with undimmed hope and vigor.
Tho Boer farmer usually passes his
lime in riding about or sitting in his
house smoking or drinking coffee.
His ''Vrouw" sees TO the housework
lis sons drive the oXwagon The
living is wretchedly poor and Wiley
cooked. but the Boer has few wants
md is happy if left alone. katiirs
10 the farm work, which is principally
Intending to the cattle, who neither
equire food or water, as the veldt pro
luces the first, and there are always
mail streams OF ''vleys,
These people go to bed about I
''clock, but arise early. llliterate and |
lneducated to a greater extent than {
ven the European peasantry, they t
POSSESS a keen and intelligent grasp Of !
he government and politics of the !
'ransvaal, and sin this respect, an |
English traveller says, ARE intellect d
ally superior to our own men of the
hires. p" They have won their posses e
ion by hard fighting and hard living. v
orty years ago they had to wage Q
ar with lions and leopnrds on their II
arms, where how scarcely buck is II
, be seen, and not only did the a
rugglc against wild beasts. but sus- n
aimed sanguinary kafir fights. They i
lowed no mercy to one o. the other, II
ut fixed their boundaries and pro d
'cted their farms.
They are the nearest present APP II
roach TO the old Hebrew patriarchs e.
Ike them. they value wealth in hocks O
nd herds, and, away from the world L
an almost lonely wilderness, worship Ia
cd and often possess the same strong =
I'd unruied passions as were exhibited u
' some of the Biblical personagcs. q
lid tales of wild doings arc some u
mes told as having occurred in far d'
way farms, ard Olive Schrciners C
Story of an African Farm" is stamped q
it'll truth. But these tales are often .
and the average Boer is, -
cording to his lights, citizen pioneer d(
Id rough, God-fearing, honest, 81
,mely, uneducated Phillistine. III
To understand the Boer you must pt
lderstand his theology, which rules 10
$ life and guides his actions, and
III may as well fight him at once as az
ell to argue with his preiudices. In ~
c early days of the Boer Trek they Ia
thought that they would IN
reach Jerusalem. Their a
vorite scriptural reading is the Old DC
and especially the Book of 10
shua, where the command TO 90 W.
rward, enjoy the promised land and pe
lite the heather was freely adopted lo'
themselves as referring to the ca
ansvaal and the treatment OF the Id
lillrs. y clergyman says that Beers ."
We told him that they could not
dcrstand why he should preach to
9 Kaffirs, who had no souls. They OF
sardcd the Kafiirs as the descendants of
Cain, and consider the attempt to at
lristianize them as trying to nullify =