New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-07-04

average sheep farmer holds manual labor Of
any kind in supreme contempt. His habits are
unspeakable. Personal cleanliness Is a lost art;
but this Is ascribed to the scarcity Of water and
the consequent inability to obtain daily bath
He has a habit Of gathering all his family
grown-up sons and daughters, and sometimes
his sons and daughters-in- law-into the same
bedroom with him; but this Is accounted for by
the fact that the nights cold the high
plateau. and that the bedrooms have fire.
places. The sleeping Boer lacks not wakeful
company. The belated traveller who accepted
the hospitality Of bed might be excused the
impression that he had stumbled across a Cop
tic monastery.
Living away in the weld the Boer has little
need of advanced education. Able to read his
Bible and to spell out his sediton preaching
newspaper, and 10 scrawl his name upon bal
lot paper. he considers himself perfectly
equipped in an educational sense. All else OF
learning he regards as superfuous and unneces-
sary. The length of the school life OF the aver
age Boer child is six months The Government
reports show that in some districts 20 per cent
Of the white Q3oer) children Of school age never
attend school The answer to Historically
given in the Cape Parliament this very session.
is that the father teaches his son to read and
the minister prepares him for church member
ship. by the way the chief qualifications for
membership in the Dutch Reformed Church are
the ability to read the Bible and to sign the
name. Happily, In the better-to-do families the
daughters are better taught some being sent to
the scmlnares at Cape Town In this circum-
stance lies the hope for the regeneration for the
pianos on the mud floors of i'll constructed dwell
ingS.
The Boer had ample time for contemplation
Seated on his stoep "a raised platform in front OF
his house, with his abominably filthy sheep
kraal but a very few yards away, he has leisure
to turn over in his roomy mind one or two
questions of great national interest. His favor
tie study is natural history. He sees his scabby
sheep rubbing themselves against the dung
brick walls Of the kraal. and he continually Ie-
wolves in his mind this mighty problem: Does
produce the insect?
CHANGING to call upon a farmer so engaged
asked him II he ever solved the problem Of tho
origin Of the scab2 He replied that he was
aware that scab was an insect, and that the in
sect was caused by scab. He was convinced that
scab simply "came." Asked whether he knew OF
any other insect bred from nothing. he instanced
neas He had. he said. known house to b
thoroughly cleansed. but within two days IL was
full Of leas again
This is the type of man which possesses very
large portion Of the surface OF the Cape colony.
II would he uncharitable and unfair 10 stigma
tie all Cape Beers as conforming to this stand
ard: but the fact that the politics OF the country
have to be shaped so as to catch the votes or the
representatives. sent by the KarOo farmer indk
Gates the power OF prejudice and ignorance. No
wonder that with such type nationality comes
before loyalty. and that the Boer, reading moth
ing Of a secular character except the honeye0
poison supplied by certain class OF Dutch news
papers should regard the claims Of the Trans
vaa upon his sympathy as paramount 10 moss
OF Great Britain.
Apart fr m these consideration the Karoo Boer
IS a good stamp Of man. With all his conserve
tism in his religion and In his social habits he
bears the reputation OF being good, kind ana
hosnitahle He welcomes the stranger. and
should the stranger be able to speak the lam
s,lage Of the country he may count upon the
best 10 farmer has TO offer
with the increasing inclination or the Boer
population 70 send their daughters 10 Cape Town
FOR their education there would seem to be some
grounds for the hone that a generation hence
may witness the disappearance or the appalling
ignorance and bigotry which prevail In the ex-
81. ,rtr q IL
ern Province But there Is always the Dutch
Reformed parson to b. reckoned with Truth
to tell the future Of South Africa lies largeU
IN the hands Of tho Dutch Reformed clergy.