The National tribune., 1899-08-03
A GENERAL IN SKIRTS.
vile of Trlnsyaal Commsnder.in-chief is Good
Soldier.
PhiIddclDhid Press,

Since the days of Cleopatra the number
Of women to actually take part in the con-
duct of the wars of their respective coun-
tries have been few. At the present day
there is only one woman who, with any JUS
tica. can be termed "a General in petit
coats" and that is Mrs. Joubert wife of
.:cn. Joubert, Commander-in-Chief OF the
Transvaal forces. Mrs. Joubert has ac-
compared her husband in all the wars lie
has undertaken. Her CHEEKY face. almost
hidden from view under the folds OF a
huge black cappie, has become such ia
miIiar sight with the burghers that the in
cOn3ruity Of one woman walking IN and out
among an armed force OF several thousand
men seems commonplace. From the days
of her earliest childhood Mrs. .Joubert has
been used to wars alarms. She can load
and fire off gun with much skill,
and on many occasions has SHOWN the
greatest courage.
1t is not generally known that it was to
Mrs. Joubert that the great defeat OF the
English at Aiajuba was greatly due. The
General considered the position unassail-
able, but Mrs. Joubert, her eyes afire with
patriotism, urged the attack, eventually
conquering the scruples of her husband and
the other commandants. The result is
known.
Mrs. Joubert's last appearance at war
occurred during the recent Matagoland
campaign lat the extreme north Of the Trans
yaal. An artillery, burgher and native
force of nearly 10000 men was dispatched
| to the front to subdue the rebel chief M 'Pefu,
iltrenehed in a series OF rocky Businesses,
blcked by the Limpopo. Notwithstanding
what was feared would be the bloody nature
of the war, the heat-oyef 100 degrees in the
shade-and the fever, the plucky woman
iOined the General a week or two after his
arrival at the Hoofd Lager, accompanied
bv only two or three little Kaffir maids.
Finding Gen. Joubert in an anything
bat comfortable tent, she routed him out,
erected tent of her own, and Installed him
amid all the comforts of home. What was
m 1re she reconstructed the Generals mess
arrangements and cooked his meals with
her own hands. The wife of the Command
| i lg General peeling potatoes was an ordi-
nary sight any day during the campaign.
On one occasion during the war the news
| came into camp that the General had been
taken i'll 80 miles away in the midst OF a
| country full of hostile natives and deadly
with malaria. Without hesitation, Mrs.
| Ioubert made preparations to go and join
| her husband, and there is little doubt that
she would have accomplished her purpose
had not more reassufing news come TO
hand.
The war came to an early close, owing
| to the military genius OF Gen. Joubert,
and. it is not too much to say, his better
| half The plans of the campaign from the
| tim Mrs. Joubert arrived till the camp was
sJryck were talked over at her dinner table.
| her sound advice and almost unequaled
knowledge of Kaffir warfare being held in
high esteem.
Although such a warrior Mrs. Joubert is
true woman. There is nothing masculine
about either her appearance or manner.
Unlike most Dutch Afrikander women, she
is slim, especially when compared with the
robust proportions of Gen. Piet Joubert.
Wonderfully active for her 60 years and
over. she can accomplish as much hard
| work in an hour as town-bred women would
| II week.
Needless to say she is immensely popu-
| lar among the burgherS. To the sick she Is
ever ready to lend assistance, and many II
Idying man has blessed her ministratlons.
When not on the warpath Mrs. Joubert is
singularly retiring. Many Pretorians have
never seen her. although she lives IN their
midst III the town house of the General OIL
Market Street Her preference, however. Is
for the quiet of the farm, where she loves
to remain until called forth To the battles
of her country by wifely affection.