The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1899-09-23

81 ,F.A. -.
which is a graveyard. There is only
~ great flat stone in it, and the SUI
prescription it bears, being i%nterprte-
ed, is as follows:
..t.... -. .......
: 1855. /:
+: SACRED :
!; TO THE MEMORY
!: OF
!: OUR WIVES AND CHILDREN. :
....-
That is all. but to this day when the
wagons halt by the roadside YOU will
frequently see the sturdy Dutch farm
ers drop their whips or lay aside
their rifles and make their way rever-
emily to the little shrine. Then they
uneoNer their heads and utter the
prayer they have known from their
childhood.
20 Lord, deliver our dear ones from
the spear of the Katfr.'
But for many years after the massa-
ere the old settlement itself was
stunned BY the Beers as a place Of i'll
and bitter memory.
AT last old Dirk Joubert, whose wife
and four children were asleep in the
little cemetery, returned, as he said,
to end his days on the spot where his
heart and his hopes were already bur-
led. The mans possessions consisted
OF a few COWS, a span of oxen, two or
three horses, a wagon and a rife. He
was a stern, upbending kind of a man,
who worked hard and said little, but
every once in a while a kind word or
a kind deed escaped him, and then his
would say, Leave old Dork
alone, he has u good heart"
OF course he loved his little daugh-
ter, Norma, his only child and COM
punion, who had escaped in a miracu-
lous way from the massacre, and after
a while even the katfirs piticd the old
man and the little girl who was moth
However, old Dirk stuck to the farm
and his daughter grew up and, with
bare head and bare feet, did the work
of a man. So when Norma was IS
years of age she was strong and
healthy and brave. Her father had
taught her to read and write, to handle
a rifle, to mount the widest of the
horses, to chop wood and to hoe corn.
In fact, they had to fight for existence
in a new country.
The old man had many friends and
they often tried to persuade him to
return to the Highveldt and live with
them, but in truth he was broken
hearted and refused to move an inch.
Afterward, when he found out what
his child could do, he became proud as
we'll as stubborn.
Nobody called Norma beautiful, and
yet there was something in her face
that made you look and then wonder
and afterward when you knew her his
tory you discovered TINT it was II face
to be worshipped. AT least the young
Beers thought SO, as they watched her
grow up to womanhood and brave the
storms and the terrors of the wilder
ness with single-hearted devotion to
her old father.
Those who have never been COM
PEELED to feed and to clothe them
idea what existence cost in the early
days when the farmers first trekked
northward and commenced to dispute
for the right of way with the Katfirs
and animals.
In course of time old Dirk began to
fail. He still went hunting at times,
but often returned empty handed, SO
more and more it fell to Norma to
provide.
One night some Of her fathers cat
tie broke away and the next day word
came that the Kafiirs were holding
them at a kraal some five miles away.
So Norma set out to bring them back.
She had heard hat there was a party
of foreigners hunting in the neighbor-
hood. They were Americans or Eng
fish, she didn't know which, and she
didn't care. She hated foreigners sim-
ply because her father did.
However, she secured the cattle and
was returning slowly homeward, when
the report of firearms recalled the for
eigners to her mind.
Wishing to avoid them she took to
, Kaffir path which led through a dried
up swamp over which the reeds had
grown thick and. high.
Her precautions, however, were in
vain. As she rode out from among
the reeds she found herself in plain
view of the wagons of the hunters.
AT q glance she could see that one of
the foreigners had a water-buck at
bay among the reeds and was calling
for assistance. Another man with a
white helmet on his head was scram-
bling down the rocky bank that skirt
ed the swamp.
He was about half way down when
Norma was Mortified to see a large
tiger cat spring from its lair and
alight square on the mans head and
shoulders. Down the bank they rolled
together, the man yelling for help,
while the growls of the tiger were half
smothered. as, with snap after snap,
it tried to bury its muzzle and jaws in
the flesh of its victim. They landed
almost at the feet OF Norma. In the
scramble the cat lost its grip, fell off
to one side and was squirming and
doubling up for another spring when a
bullet from Norma's rifle pierced its
brain.
cross, and his friend, who fastened to
his assistance. was Robert Dearborn,
Americans, both of them.
Norm: understood her duty, in spite
of her fathers dislike to foreigners. As
the mans injuries were very serious
slse invited the party over to the farm
house. There they remained for over
three months, ard when Claude had
recovered his friend Dearborn told
him that he owed his life to Norma's
skill and devotion.
AS for Claude, his gratitude was
boundless, and his admiration For the
girl was so sincere and outspoken that
after he was gone Norma missed him
dreadfully, and once in a while took
refuge in tears.
In 1875 old Dirk Joubert died, and
was gathered to his wife and children
in the little cemetery,
Some well-to-do relations living in
Pretoria took charge of Norma, and,
of course, from this time on a great
change came over her life. However,
she made such good use of her time
and opportunities that when Claude
met her about two years later, on his
return from the Zambesi, he could
hardly credit his senses or believe mis-
eyes.
He had, of course, a genuine regard
for the girl, and this soon ripened into
something more serious for them both
and. to make along story short, In the
end they plighted their faith to each
other.
But Norma's guardians were very
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