Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1899-11-30
A TALE OF LIFE IN THE
BOER REPUBLIC.

and very much combed out and staring
at his new leather boots. The Kattir
servants were not there because Tant'
Sannie held they We're descended from
apes and needed no salvation. But the
rest were gathered for the Sunday
service and waited the officiator.
Meanwhile Bonaparte and the Ger
man approached arm in arm, Bona
parte respondent in the black cloth
clothes, spotless shirt and spotless-
collar, the German in the old salt and
pepper, casting shy glances of admira-
ton at his companion.
At the front door Bo9aparte removed
his hat with much dignity, raised his
shirt collar and entered. To the cen
ter table he walked, put his hat sol
EMMY down by the big Bible and bow
ed his head over it in silent prayer.
The Boer woman looked at the Hot
tentot, and the Hottentot looked at the
Boer woman.
There was one thing on earth for
which Tant Sannie had a profound
reverence, which exercised a subduing
influence over her, which made her for
the time a better woman. That thing
was new, shining black cloth. 1t made
her think Of the 'predikant;" it made
her think of the elders, who sat in
the top pew of the church on Sundays,
with the hair so nicely oiled, SO holy
and respectable, with their little swal-
lowtailed coats; it made her think of
heaven, where everything was so holy
and respectable and nobody wore tan
cord and the littlest angel had black
tail coat. She wished she hadn't call
ed him thief and Roman Catholic.
She hoped the German hadn't told him.
She wondered where those clothes were
when he came in rags to her door.
There was no doubt he was a very re-
spectacle man, gentleman.
The German began to read a hymn.
At the end of each line Bonaparte
groaned and twice at the end Of every
verse.
The Boer woman had often heard, of
persons groanlng during prayers to add
a certain poignancy and finish to them.
Old Jan Vanderlinde, her mothers
brother, always did it after he was
converted, and she would have looked
upon it as no especial sign Of grace in
any one. But to groan at hymn time!
She was startled. She wondered if lie
remembered that she shook her fist in
his face. This was a man Of God.
They knelt down to pray. The Boer
woman weighed $50 pounds and could
not kneel. She sat in her chair and
,peeped between her crossed fingers at
the strangers back. She could not
understand what he said, but he was
in earnest. He shook the chair by the
back rail till it made quite little dust
on the mud floor.
When. they rose from their knees,
Bonaparte solemnly seated himself in
the chair and opened the Bible. He
blew his nose, pulled up his shirt col
lar, smoothed the leaves, stroked down
his capacious waistcoat, blew his nose
again, looked solemnly round the room,
then began:
"All liars shall have their part in the
lake which burnett with fire and brim-
stone, which is the second DEATH"
Having read this portion Of Scrip
ture, Bonaparte paused impressiyely
and looked all round the room.
Il shall not, my dear friends" he
said, 'long detain you. Much of our
precious time has already fed bliss
fully from US in the voice of thanks
giving and the tongue of praise. A
few, very few, words are all shall
address to you, and may they be as a
rod Of iron dividing the bones from
the marrow and the marrow from the
bones.
"In the first place, what is a liar?'
The question was put SO pointedly
and followed by a pause so profound
that even the Hottentot man left off
looking at his boots and opened his
eyes, though he understood not word.
Il repeat" said Bonaparte, what is
a liar?'
The sensation was intense. The at
tention of the audience was riveted.
Have you. any Of you ever seen
liar, my dear. friends?" There was
still longer pause. 81 hope not; truly
hope not. But will tel, you what a
liar is. l knew liar once-a little boy
who lived in Cape Town, In Short Mar
ket street. His mother and sat to-
gether one day discoursing about our
souls.
Here, Sampson said his mother,
go and buy sixpence Of "meiboss''
from the Malay round the corner
when he came back, she said, How
much have you got?'
X Five he said.
He was afraid if he said six and o
half she'd ask for some. And, my
friends, that was lie. The half of a
'meiboss' stuck in his throat, and he
died and was buried. Aid where did
the soul of that little liar go to, my
friends? 1t went to the LAKE Of fire and
birthstone. This brings ME to the sec
ond point of my discourse.
what Ia . lake Of fire and brim.