The Anaconda standard., 1899-11-21
commandments from one to 10 are daily
impressed upon the inmates.

commandments from one to 10 are daily
| impressed upon the inmates.
The Beers have intern1arried largely
| among themselves. All the best fami-
lies are connected by one. sometimes
| two or three ties. Not few of the
younger generation have married for-
| eigners, but this is frowned upon by
| the conservative elders. One of Dom
| Pauls sons married an English girl,
| to his fathers everlasting sorrow. How
we Beers, who are clannish, can nave
| the reputation for interminglinS with
| the natives, I do not understand. The
| Hottentots, the Kaffirs and the Zulus
are our servants.
| When it Is discovered that I am q
] Boer 1 am always asked whether l
| have read 1.-THE Story of an African
| Farm" The book must have been
| hear 1t mentioned on all sides. l sell
| dom find reader who has even turned
the leaves of any other book on the
| Transvaal.
'The Story of an African Farm" is
most interesting. 1t is too bad that
.Tant sannie" should be grated on !,
| foreign imagination as the type of ali
Boer women. Tant Sannie, Colossus
| of fat, ignorant as a Kaffir, bull
throated, spluttering coarse oaths, Is
no more a type Of the Boer women
than Becky Sharp is of all English
| women.
| appreciate Tant Sannie as literary
! character. I do not resent her crea-
I tions, as most Beers do. For / believe
I that Olive Schreiner did not draw her
| to typify our race. She no more felt
need of asserting this than Dickens felt
| called upon to mention that Uriah
| Iieep was not intended to represent all
! Englishmen.
! But, unfortunately, our race is so lit
| IL hot ftn al nft q
ordinary characters Of fiction have
| been made to stand for the reality.
We must confess that many of the
| Boer country customs are most accu-
rately described in this tale. I copy
| from a torn leaf fluttering among my
things. clipped from the book because
1t SO viyidly describes a country we'd
| ding:
| Bride and groom, with their attend
ants, marched solemnly to the marriage
chamber, where bed and box are deck.
ed out in white, with ends ef ribbon
and artificial flowers, and where on 9
row Of chairs the party solemnly seat
themselves. After time bridesmaid
and best man rise and conduct in with
ceremony each individual guest to kiss
the bride and bridegroom. Then tht
feast is set on the table, and 1t is al.
most sunset before the dishes are clear
ed away and the pleasure of the day
| begins. Everything is removed IRON
the great front room and the mud
floor, well rubbed with bullccks blood
| glistens like polished mahogany.
'"The female portion of the assembly
flock into the side rooms to attire
| themselves for the evening and reissue
clad in white muslin and gay with
bright ribons and brass jewelry. The
dancing begins as the first tallow can
dies are stuck up about the walls, tbs
music coming from couple Of fiddlers
in a corner of the room. Bride and
bridegroom open the ball and the f1ool
is soon covered with whirling couples
by II o'clock the children, who
| swarm in the side rooms, are not to be
kept quiet longer even by punches OF
| bread and cake. there is general
howl and wall that rises yet higher
than the scraping Of fddles and moth
ers rush from their partners to knock
two small heads together and cuff lit
tie nursemaids and force the walters
down into uneccupied corners of beds
under tables and behind boxes.
I'm half an hour every variety OF
childish snore is heard on all sides
and it has become perilous to raise OIL
set down a foot in any of the side
rooms lest small head or hand should
be crushed.
Now, too, the busy feet have broker
the solid coating Of the floor and c
cloud OF fine dust arises that makes
yellow halo around the candles ant
sets asthmatic people coughing ant