The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-12-09
LADYSMlTH BEFORE THE WAR.
(key. Francis h. Clark In Christian En-
daaynr World \


Few Of the people OF Ladysmith are
rich, and, what is mors remarkable, they
do not seem to care to b.; at least, not
In the strenuous, soui-ab 5orbing way IN
which We care for riches. They are con-
tent with their flocks ara herds aud
bourdlefs veldt, and are ready to leavs
the stram bic for geld and diamonds and
hig position IN scoi.ty and Political clbal
and puol'c Office to the more "progrssive"
nations of the West.
Aft,r all, there Is something a dmirable
about this phleSmatio, stalwart Dutch
nun OF South Africa. We have SO much
of the nervous, high-sIung, axoitable
temperament If the West. which In h
quarter OF a lifetime sncks dry the poor
squeez d orange Of the worlt, th9t
refrss> s.tannd somewhere
th steady, unemotF
THAT Glow and stoiip
Ter has bis fsuts
iaargely lie u .-ssd
~ his oircy anu sur
J, ruu-a.. II hu.~ be has his virtues that
are especially NEEDED in thes days of hyf-
terical M orey rabbing, and every gepsr-
Gus eneanJ who is now lighting him will
be WIN ng to uweli for n little on this
side his chara TER.
There Is vast and colossal Ignorance
In Eprppe. and IN Anerloa as well, con
corning this people. Some pee pie do not
seem to know III, difference retwesn
HE AID boor and q bore, but there Is
all ths difference in the world. Boer
originally meant farmer (; that Is al.
have been asked more than once whether
n
question would seem as singular to them
as TO ask one Of the nabobs OF Georgia
how much negro blood he had In his
veins. Why, Andrew Murray Is a Boer,
and all the wonderful Murray family
that has done SO much to regene a'e
and j. p. u. Meiring, recent delegates to
the Pan-Prssby terrain Assembly, are
Bosrs.
The Beers are of that same race as our
selyes. almost purely Teutonic, with
slight admixture of the best Celtic blood
in the world from their huguenot anees-
tors. A sEort residence among them
would dlfpel many Of our Illusions We
shoul1 zee that they have their churches
and their schools, some of their churches
comparing favorably with the largest and
finest In America. They have theiI
are well enforced and loyalty obsyed.
They have = strict and perhaps primitive
theology to which they tenaoiously ad-
here, but 1t embraces in uDadulterated
form the great essential truths of Chris
tianity. As few Americans or Britons
have, they have Grasped the thought that
lies at the basis of all theology aud all
rightness. that God is; that God rules the
world, al d that 1t Is better TO trust In
God than to put confidence In princes.
To the lonely Bosr on his great upland
prairie the stars seem not SO fer away,
and the God OF the heavens seems nearer
than to us In cur bnstling city life.
The scene In South Africa which l best
like to recall is the closing Oh ristian
Endsa vor meeting in Johannesburg. when
English and Dutch Endenvorers came to-
gether In joyous fellowship. Ii was the
first and perhaps the only meeting OF the
kind that was ever held, but in Christian
Endeavor the churches had found CON-
mon bond.
The Jameson raid was still fresh, and
doubtless rankled In the hearts Of the
Dutch Christian S; but, for one meeting
at least, they all put aside these old
memories and animosities, and sang and
prayed together. All together We re-
neated the Lord g Prayer. some saying 1t
IN Dutch and some In English, and all
together we sang, some In one language
some in smother:
"Blest bs ths tie that binds
Our hearts In Christian love.