The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1899-11-09
HOME,taFE OF THE BOERS
AN INTERESTING DESCRIPTION or
THE WOMEN OF THE VELDTS.

one must know their home lie. Tue
Beers are probably less understood
than any other people who claim n ma
tional existence. This is partly due
to their isolation in the great conti-
nent, Africa, a place far out of the
beaten track OF travel and unmolested
by copy seeking journalists. 1t is also
partly due to the character of the peo-
pie themselves; there is nothing so
much that the Boer desires as to be
let alone.
The average Boer home ii on a
great farm where the homestead stands
in the center of tract OF land often
numbering dozen miles. The near.
est neighbors are miles away and the
family may not see them for weeks at
time, except at the meeting house in
town, where all go on Saturday to re-
main for the service on Sunday.
The Boer woman is very little like
the trim, handsome Dutchwomen OF
her ancestral Holland. She is seldom
pretty. Her complexion is hor prin-
cipal charm, and she guards this care
fully whenever sho goes out. She is
never seen outdoors without great
peaked bonnet on her head, her visits
to church being made behind an al
most oriental seclusion of wells. This
is necessary to preserve the pink and
white of her skin, for the climate
would otherwise soon tan it to the
color of sole leather. Her eyes are
small and set close together, and her
caatnraa ,rrnr,,al,p II, al
are broad and flat, and her hair is nat
urally light in color, although time
and weather soon bleach it from its
early straw color At a very early age
she loses all her teeth, for she is con-
stantly chewing sweet cake and con
fectionery. Her figure is thick aud
almost waistless. While still young
woman she begins to grow fat, and by
the time middle life is reached sho is
often so unwieldy that the only exer-
else she is able to take is to waddle
cumbersomely from one armchair to
another. She is clad in a loose,
soantily made gown devoid of trim
ming and apparently waistless. The
day garments of the Beers are also
their nightclothes, so the gown is
generally wrinkled.
The education of the women of the
veldts is very simple. The older ones,
or at any rate many of them, are un-
able to read and write, even among
the better classes, but the younger
people show an immense interest in
letters. There are no free schools
and only the children of the we'll do
are able to attend the academies in
the towns, for heavy fees are charged
| all scholars. One reason why the
Boer children are fond OF their school
and cry if they are compelled to stay
at home is because it is break in the
monotony of the day. Life is dull in
the Transvaal
Life IN the Dutch republic is patri-
archically simple. The Beers until
recently cared nothing about the gold
or diamonds with which their rich
provinces were teeming; they wished
to live quietly and peaceably on their
| great fans, raising sheep and goats
and enough produce to supply their
family's simple wants. When the
vrouw wants new gown or mynherr
new pair of corduroy trousers or a
high crowned hat, he gathers up some
ostrich feathers from the birds in the
camps, or drives to market few OF
his cattle and comes back amply sup
piled with what clothing the family
thinks it needs for the year.
The life of the Boer housewife of
! the better class is almost coloress.
She rises with the rest of the family at
daylight, and, after a chapter from the
Bible read by the male head of the
house, a basin aud towel are passed
around to the members of the family
| by one of the Kaflir maidservants.
Each one dips corner of the towel
into the water and carelessly brushes
it over his or her face. Then the
hands are dipped in the water and
| dried and the basin and towel are
| passed on 70 the next one. After this
breakfast is served.
When the meal is over, the house.
| wife ensconces herself beside n little
| table in the window of the living room.
| A shining coffee urn stands on the
table ana from this the vrouw now and
then forti6es herself with deep drafts
of strong coffee drunk from queer,
handleless cups. Should guest drop
in during the day he will be served
with coffee and sweet cakes, and be-
tween meals coffee will be given to any
member of the family who may want
it. The children play about the vrouw
and the servants come in and out to
receive orders, but the housewife does
not stir. At noon, when the sun shines
down hot and bright on kopje and kar-
roo, doors and windows are closed
and the entire family retires for
MONDAY siesta. When the sun has
gone down, every one goes to work
again, although there is not much
labor done by any of the white people,
the Kaf1irs, Hottentots and Zulus toll
ing while the Boer or his wife or
daughter directs them. The story
that President Kruger's wife does her
own cooking is therefore q fiction.
Like all people who live in southern
latitudes, the Beers are lovers of their
ease and consider it beneath their dig
nifty to do anything that one of tho
black servants can do for them.
Only two meals day are served
Dinner, which is put upon the table
in tue evening, is the principal one
In their gardens there are plenty of
vegetables, such as cabbages, cauli-