St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1899-07-08
THE BoERs AT PRAYER.
Their Army on Its Knees Before Go.
ing Into Action-War a Reli.
Eious Duty.

1 Il
the Boer army under Gen. Joubert in
the recent campaign against M'Pefu,
chief of the Makatese, in the north
4 eastern part of the Transvaal, gives
some interesting details of the Boer
military organization and other mat
tiers. The commando under Gen. Jon-
Ebert was the largest ever assembled in
1.-THE Transyaal, numbering with the ma
tive allies nearly 10,oG05men This force
Twas divided into FIVE laagers, each un-
der its commandant. The first impress
sion of Boer army, the writer says,
lis not hattering. There is no appear
ance of order and the men are not uni
Horned. which is in striking. contrast
with the regular armies OF other eoun-
tries. But the apparent absence of dis
Icipline is only. on the surface. Conn
mandos are made up of burghers drawn
Ifrom various districts, each man con-
sidering himself on an equality with
ANY other. They are only subject to
lorders from their own district com
mandants. who intturn are responsible
to the general. In the field all fare
alike, the co1nmiss;iriat knowing no
distinctions. The only regulars are
Bthe. state artillery, drawn from the
sons of burghers, and paid about two
dollars a day. go
One of the principal features of the
sBoer laagers II. the earr1paign was the
religious exercises. each evening, when
1.-THE men would assemble under their
1ga, Jare fr,. r,ro.,a,, a,,9,tJ n, fy fI n o
sin ging of their battle hymn: Rust.
i3myn ziel, God as ISoning' Crest
my soul, your God is Kihg) War, with
1.-THE Beers. is. considered a religious duty
land enforced by the. state only in self
lefense. The night before the storm
Ting of M'Pefu's stronghold, in the MAJ
Igato mountains. a united prayer meet
ling was held of all the Iaagers under
1.-THE personal leadership of Gen. Joti-
lsbert. and the scene is described as
|singularly impressive. The day fol
flowing, the Makatese. position was car
Fried with only trifing loss, after the
jkraals had been subjected tosas heavy
I artillery fire; and the remainder of
the campaign was pushed with such
| their men, surrendered, and M'Pefu,
with about 10000 followers. took ref
| uge in Mashonaland. in RlIodesia,
across the Limpopo river. The VIC.
tory of the Beers scompleteand was
signal triumph for Gen. Jotlbert, the
Magato mountains having been consid-
cred impregnable and the strongest
natural Businesses in South Africa.
Of Gen. Joubert himself. known
among his men as Slim Piet, the writer
says he, has been uniformly successful,
notwithstanding that his~adetractors
have proved, to their own satisfaction,
times without number. that he has
neither military talents, courage, nor
backbone. That may be, he says, be-
cause of his appearance on the field of
battle, whichis not impressive, his cos
tune during the Afagato campaign hav
| ing been tweed suit with q tail coat.
But neither the general nor his men
care for externals and although their
clothes would hardly excite the envy.
of se1f-resreeting tramp, they do ex-
cellent work in Them. Tsss
The writer says it is a great mistake
to suppose that the Beers hate indi-
vidual Englisbmen. II, is only against
the government that they entertain ha-
tired. Throughout the campaign he
describes himself as having been the
recipient of nothing but kind dpess from
the general down, and that without any
sacrifice Of his own opinions. The only
question on which he had to be, a lit
lie circumspeet was as to what would
happen If war. broke out between the.
/ two countries. Discussions on this sub
|ject were hot and frequent, the gen
|eral conclusion being that the con-
ficB would be the greatest disaster
which could befall South Africa. From
what he saw the writer says he could
well believe this would be the case
for while England must eventually win,
the obstinate resistance of 10000
burghers fighting for their hearths and
homes. and with thorough knowledge
of the country, would mean that Eng
land could only assert her Sovereignty
over the republic after great bloodshed,
and then would have to face after-con-
sequences even more serious.-N. Y.
Sun.
Philippine Music.
Philippine music is becoming popu-
lar. Returning yoyag gers to the far dis
stant islands have EeaintEodHeed it here.
Like the Hawaiian, it is distinctive, and
characteristic Of the national life of the1
people, though without doubt an adap-
tation of the sweet and melancholy
music of the Spaniards.. Flute, violin
and harp are the fayorite instruments.
as in the italian, but it is not like the
animated music. of Italy. The liyeEest
strains of the Filipinos are pathetic
and melancholy In tone. So, too, are
the titles of most of their musical COM
positions. as, for Instance, sLos Diaa
UltiInas del yerano' 1.-THE Last Days
of Sulnmer'') .sThe Wall Of "a Lost
Soul. .sEhe Approach of Autumn"
The harp twangs softly, the violin
bow is gently drawn, while above all
floats the wall of flute, which rises
and falls in melancholy cadenees. This
music speaks as eloquently to the fer
seigner as to the native. THE a Approach
OF Autumn is so plaintive and sad that !
you can almost hear fhesrustIe of the
forest leaves, or the signing Of autu1nn
szephyrs through the pine trees. Church |
music, too, is Of the same plaintive
character, all pitched in minor key
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