El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-06-21

nrSG impression Vi UaS pTSSluSno was
"a composite portrait made up of Abra-
ham Lincoln and Cromwell. with
fragment of John Bright about the
eyes" There is much to suggest the
comparison with Crom but hardly
anything or nothing to remind one OF
Lincoln or Bright.
The old mans large, but not we'll
shaped head is set aggressively for
ward. His eyes are small, close to-
Their expression does not suggest,
however, that the brain back OF them
is Inactive; the impression is rather
that they see without resting on any
thing in particular. The effect is one
of constant watchfulness. The nose is
large. out of all proportion even to the
broad face, fringed to the ears with
an irregular gray beard that follows
the outline of his face, leaving bare
sion of the mouth is set aud unpleasing,
except when his stoicism lspses for
moment and his lips twitch in the faint
imitation of smile. His ears are
large and fiat. His clothes sccentuate
his uncouth figure, giving the impress
sion that the trunk is about one-fourth
his height. The wide topboots he
wears give his long legs strangely ir-
regular appearance. But for all this
Kruger is a man of much outward
force. One not knowing him would
not be likely to misplace him from any
thing in his outward appearance.
The wife of the president is in ap-
pearance much more commonplace
than he. She is known by everyone
in Pretoria, where she walks about
freely, dressed in plain black and Of
bonnet is always small black, unOr-
a cd tU: n.
and hardly large enough to cover her
smoothly brushed hair. She is stout,
and the less said about her figure the
better.
The presidents house looks very
much like shooting lodge. 1t is
screened from the street by large
shade trees and a hedge, outside of
which is low wooden fence, perhaps
three feet high. All the rooms are on
one floor, surrounded on all sides by a
veranda. From the street. the house
has a rustic appearance. Here in
small room on the left of the central
hall the president sits from early
morning until o'clock, smoking his
pipe aud ready to see any one who can
give a passao ole excuse for seeking
him.
Nowadays six mounted guards ARM
ed with rifles accompany the president
whenever he goes abroad. Two SEN
tries stand at the gateway OF his house
and two pace before the door and win
dows of his chamber at the state house
when he is there. The guard is not
for display. and why his personal
safety should be thought to require it
is hard to say.
Paul Kruger is an ignorant man, so
far as our idea of education goes. He
knows but one language, having failed
in an attempt to learn English when
he visited Great Britain some years
ago. And he has read but one book
the Bible, but this he knows thorough
ly, having a text for every occasion.
limited to reading and. writing,
and by no means majority of the
Boer pioneers thought these &C
complishments necessary. But if he
is without education, he is not without
cleverness and wit. Among his people
his sayings pass current as expressions
of the highest wisdom, and not few of
them are worth the high estimate
placed upon them. When, for in
the death of Jameson and some of his
men, Kruger told them mo; you want
N to chop the tail off snake. Wait |
till we get q chance at the head The |
"head,'' of course, is Mr.. Rhodes. |
And again, when he liberated a score |
or more Of men supposed to be
in the Jameson |
raid, he replied to their thanks: 'If |
a dog bites me don't punish the dog. |
60 for the man who set the dog on |
me-"
Kruger understands his position and |
the extent of his strength. He does |!
not, as do many of his countrymen,
brag that the only British flag they |
know are the white flags they saw at
Msjuba Hill and in Jameson's hands. |
Indeed, their opinion is that Great
Britain would not make good Boer |
mouthful. But Kruger knows better. |
If he ever measures arms with the |
British it will be after every resource |
of his cunning has been exhausted.