The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1896-02-02
Beers ARE PURITANS
They Read Their Bibles and
They Trust in God.
SORRY GOLD WAS DISCOVERED.
Not Kin 10 the Germans-A Remark
able Nation That l. Made OF Good
and Lasting Material.


able Nation That l. Made of Good
and Lasting Material.
Harold Frederic fn New York Times
London. Jan. k-Accer3iug 70 the Daily
Telegraph. enc reason Why the BoeTs OF
the TraHsvaal are not emitted 10 the SYM
rsthy- OF mankind IN their desire 10 main
tain their independence is that they have
never produced any literature This same
q1asnt argument was popular in France
during the serviie Napole9nic period, when
svcophants about the Tuileries sought TO
Justly the ccntemplaI ted attack on tfe 20
critics OF Switzerland. They argued that a
people ike the Swiss. who had never pro-
Guced a literature. had no claim TO be free.
A generation earlier sfilI. the English said
the same thing about TIE rev3lted Ameri-
can coi0aists- The much later insular taunt
which 80 enraged Feniuaore Co1per-"WhO
ever read an American hook was mere
" an echo Of what was contenptuously
said in England about the Yankee reoels
al the time OF the Revolution. But yea
can go on tracing this curious argument
back through hisfory-to the 1urnping-on
place fer that matter. Ii is the Oldest OF
recorded emotions-thfs disdain OF the peo-
pie Of cities FOR the pastoral and nomadic
folk, this eternal feud between the artifi-
ciai and TIE natural. Inc b1&eA-9FlCh Il
brary OF the Assyrian monarchs. which
was dug out Of the mounds near Nineveh,
and Is now scattered about through the
museums 0f Europe. is full of expressions
OF the contempt which the sophis
subjects of Sennacherib and Asshurbani-
pal entertained for the rude Israeltes and
other unlettered peoples on the confines OF
their empire.
II has happened, however that the Jew
has outlived the Assyr1an by some thou
sands OF years. and. moreover, has more
profoundly affected and moulded the liter
AZURE of the world than perhaps even tie
scholarly Athenians themselves. The col
lection OF traditions and epics treasured Up
By one Of the least considerable Of the Sc
mite groups never in any respect i culi-
waited people, and who, indeed. made sculp-
rure a penal offense and could not even
build their temple without bringing in ar
tificers from other countries. has become
the Book Of the human race.
The Beers Read the Pible.
The Beers know the Bible IL they know
nothing else OF what is called literature
They are probably the only remaining hoin-
ogeneous people remaining on the globe
whose reading and whose Intellectual all
rnent are purely Scriptural People who
have lived among them in South Africa all
agree upon this characteristic feature OF
Boer life They are essentially Puritan
nation, and they maintain strictly the
ocratic community, such as the good men
who founded Plymouth and Boston fondiy
hoped TO preserve on Massachusetts bay
Among them, people who stay away from
church or who profess indifference TO rellg-
ious teachings and observances are wholly
unknown. OF course, young Afrikandas
stray away from the flock in ever-increas-
ing numbers, but untIl they so away they
conform with the rest OF the rules OF pious
behavior III was, indeed more for the
purpose of preserving their young people
from demoralizing contact with the lax and
irreligious "outlander" than for any other
reason that the Beers OF the Transvaal and
Orange Free State have twice ''trekked'
northward, leaving the place in which they
were born and all Their possessions when
could not be carried along. and faced the
priyation and risks of unknown and saw
age wilds. At all hazards, they were reso-
lutte to live their own lives and 70 keep their
children undefiled by contact with the evil
thing called civilization.
orr, frnat told Was Discovered.
The fact that in their second great trek
they hit upon a rich land with gold reefs
has never been regarded by the Beers as
anything but a terrible misfortune. They
learned OF the existence of the gold long
ago. and as long as they could they kept
this knowledge a profound secret, not IN
order to profit by il themselves, but 10 pre-
vent the ash OF immigration which they
feared. and which would bring upon them
once more, and in an aggravated form, all
the social and nj, raj ills which they had
made such sacrifices to avoid. l do not
think there Is any other nation in the
world in which il would be possible to ind
even a small minority capable OF taking
such a lofty and abstract view or natural
gold deposits on their farms. But the
Beers seem to have been practically unani-
nous among themselves in this attitude.
Even after the unhappy secret was out,
they strove desperately. by means of laws
against gold digging. TO stem the irresisti-
BILE current Some of the English papers
are ungenerous enough now-or. perhaps,
faIrer term IS ill-inf0rmed enough--to re-
preach the Beers with the fact that their
government has been getting rich by heavy
taxes levied on the output or the gold mines
about Johannesburg. 1t is true that the
TrsnsvaaI government does levy such a
tax. although IL is lighter BY far than the
ROYALTY exacted by the Chartered Company
on the mines in Matabeleland and else
where IA its dominious. But II is also true
that the Beers only resorted 10 this device
when they had exhausted every possible
resource 20 prevent mining altogether,
4 community which values Is ideals so
highly that Il can 1--we cOntentediy IN re-
mote and isolated territory. and deliberate
II ignore the seams of gold under its feet
because OF its conviction that simple
pastoral existence Is a better life. IS surely
unique in our time-perhaps in any time.
No doubt the elders had Their seasons OF
~ra~o v-restiing with the impulse toward
naamuon among the weaker bretarea-Just
as Noses ana later lawgivers had 10 wage
u7ceasFrg war against the cult or the gold
en- calf in tnelr it1le iheocracy-but no re-
eort Of rnut.ny comes 70 US. So far as the
outer world knows the Beers We're unit
En- their passionate desire 70 keep the gold
fever out OF their blood. What fafuous
am empty thing It IS 70 say Of such peo-
PIE that they have TO lieratuFe' Ihey 90
better. they are q literature
II = incredible, too, + should think, that
q literature should not arise around the
ruins Of this extraordinary community.
ore has only II recall The intense thfil
which olive Schreiner's story OF az Afr
can Farm sent through the reading world
"a realize the force With which such a 1T
eratuve ght appeal 20 lis all. IL - true
:nat the tale IN question took an aVoWeiiy
hosfiia view Of TIE Boer and painted The
mental squaIor aad brutality or buTghsr
lsa or the Neidt 10 most repellent cotoTs-
Hut the strange. uove}. spiritual note IA the
hook witch struck as all and which Vi
h-,.es s+ilI s, memory with some underlined.
fnsxcl{cable charm OF insiiytfua4lty~ihat
also belongs 20 TIE NeI1t. and could haVe
NeaD sounded now here else. Nor can one
a=rr.ha IL in any large degree 10 the genius
OF he writer. o-acause she has BE much
work since. and 81 has been found common
rr1era-slrsast trivial ! doubt not that some
s-et,-re~ ard greater nina Is today az work
somewhere n BoeslaDd gathering ans as
sr7natiug perhaps quite unco1scsously.
.hs materials Tor book THAI the ~hOle
world VII rernema@r.
Foer- Not Kin TO the Germans.