Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-07-22
President Kruger's Subjects Are a
Brave and Hardy Lot.
ALL ARE FARMERS And HUNTERS
Have No Taste for the Luxuries of
Modern Civilization.
MAKE SPLENDID FIGHTERS


temptuously asks: Against whom pray?''
When X hears that that state has no sea-
board, no fleet and is almost entirely sur
rounded by the outposts of a huge empire
interest is quickened. and when it learns
that it is indeed no less than the mighty
empire against which the stout little nation
opposes itself the distant world wonder
ng.y inquiries: And what manner of men
are these?" Possibly. as It learns, it will
be reminded of long past days when Swift
zerland, a child among strong men, and lit
tie Holland aroused generous interest in the
same way.
You Will hear divers answers as TO what
kind of people the Peers are. The more
shortsighted and ntoieTant among travel
ers-he who feels it a grievance that any
one should have different habits and man.
ners to those i'm which he is himse steel
caged-may say that the Beers are dirty
lot who don't use table napkins. an Hitter
ate set of brutes who never heard of Kip
ling, an utterly uurefined people whose
knowledge of art is Min short, back
ward, stupid, unprogreSSive, half-civillZet
set who are too thickheaded To know they
are standing in the path of that Juggcrnaut
car, civilization. and must in the end be
crushed beneath its wheels. But that very
traveller, when he gets aboard the steamer
to sail to his own land of delights, is quite
likely to pick up SCOTS Anne of Ge.er-
stein" and eXClaim jOyfully that lie should
like to have lived in those days. In the rough.
open-air life of the GeierStein family. on
their mountain sides, one may find no faint
resemblance to the life of a BoeT house
hold on a far-away farm-on!y the Boer
has no pretenSions to nobilty-that is, social
rank above his fellows.
Farmers and Hunters.
1t is a mistake to read of Paul Kruger
and take him and his surrounding poll
ticians as types of the Boer. Also it is Il
mic 10 tn toll, ba 6ua in, no
as typical. To unearth the real Transvaal-
ian, one must seek the wide and solitary
veldt, the hidden valleys, the distant hills,
and there, his farm, draw him cut and
study him. Your true Boer desoises the
town. He is essentially an aSrtculturist
and a hunter. Up to 1892 he never a
railroad in his country, and he was bitterly
opposed TO its coming He argues that the
railroad will drive away the game. and.
without anything to shoot at life will not
be worth living. He is extremely conserVa-
tive and with strangers brUsque and tact
turn. but, if he finds you are harmless, he
can be very hosptable. He does not drink
deep. He is religious with 2 gloomy, stern
religion which makes him believe, did
the Covenanters, much in the Old Tesla
ment in the New. Like all people whose
belief in the Bible is Of that uncomcromis
ing kind, he is more or less SuDerstitious.
He is moral He does not believe in divorce
laws. He marries early in life. and is con-
WINGED the highest blessing is an abundance
6L cHltIreIl. he Is SlurulIN punt as a rule.
thanks to his way of life, which is the same
as that of his father, and his ancestors for
many Seneratfons-an Cpen-afr life, with
lots of beef and cabbage and milk. He is a
good horseman, and a remarkable marks
man. He understands that the man who
can shoot straight and without excitement
makes, nowadays, the best soldier. lie
fears God and loves his country but cam
not understand the need of taXgatherer.
He is, in fact, the backwoOdsman of last
century in the United States, come to life
again in Africa.
Daily Farm Life.
At the first hint of gray in the eastern
sky, at the first crow of the cock the farm
household is up and stirring, and break
fast, with the usual strong coffee the Boer
loves, is over by the time the sun rises
The men are out and about at once looking
after just the same chores as on an Ameri-
can farm in the west, save these who are
off to repleniSh the harder by shooting a
sprngbok, a hartebeest or some such
species of deer. The women have plenty of
work about the house. The genuine old
Boer farm furnishes itself everything nee
essary to its occupants. The furniture is
often made by the farmer, or he has great
unwieldy, carved chests and bureaus which
have come to him from his ancestors. He
can make his own shoes. His women dress
and weave his own Sleeps wool and make
their and his clothes from it, There is
almost nothing he needs to buy. He does
not care a rap for necktics or collars or
store clothes and a full beard is fashionable
All he really has 10 buy is farming imple-
ments, and of these he prefers the primitive
sort though enterprisng agents here and
there have introduced such things as now
ing and other machinery.
During the day he works iesurely, con-
tent to make living out of the ground
He mas been seen sitting in his wagon for
hours watching an enterprislng hustling
uiuander with wonder, as the foreigner
worked continuously, with all kinds of new
tangled machines, producing far more from
the earth than his wants required, because
he wished to market the surplus and make
money. He has been seen thus shaking his
mead in pity and not unmingled with con-
tempt at such folly for the Boer is not a
moneymaker. He does not want a bank ac-
count. So he drives his slow-moving OK
wagon away on the hot and dusty trek
meditating on the want of faith these ITit-
landers have, who cannot trust the future
TO GOD, and be content with today.
No Luxurfes for Him,
He dimes heartily at noon and SIMS be.rt
lily at evening. His day hardly differs from
that of any farmer in any country only. If
he sings at his work, it is likely to be a
psalm that he sings. He smokes a great
deal while he goes about-a habit derived
from his forebears In Holland. He is for
tunate in having no winter-no frost no
snow, only the dry season when his cattle
suHer, ana the rainy season, when the
rivers and ponds are flooded.
simply furnished, as to the house rooms
The great feather bed is usually the most
nouceabie features, unless, PERTAINS he
glories in little harmonium for his daugh-
ter to pick hymn tunes on Of a Sunday
Just before the sun goes down. at a time
which varies very little all the year round
the Boer calls his family together, and they
have household prayers and pious singing
No lights are needed, or if one is IT is an
old-fashioned lanthorn, or, more likely a
rush dip, floating in cup of home-mada
tallow. Ere the daylight has fairly gone
the farmer has bolted the door, and every
body is in bed.
His AmuseInents,
He has no amusements, according to En-
ropean or American lights. Knowing Moth
ing of theaters or picture galleries. he does
not want them. He hardly ever reads an
thing save the Bible, and that is a sacred |
duty, and with stammering and difficulty. |
The hunt is his chief sport, for big or little |
game, and there is keen rivalry in the dis |
play OF trophies. Also he has one fayorite
sport or much the same kind-the shooting
matches. For this, however, he does moi
dress up in picturesque attire as a Ger
man does for Schuetzenfest, but goes to |
1t with his folks in his usual dress seeing |