The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-05

BOERS OF FICTION AND FACT.
The ''ReaI Thing" Thinks the Earth
FIat-GOOd to His Ugly VrOuw,
Brave If Degenerate.


From the London STANDARD.
Ladysmith, Oct. 15.-Between the Boer
of fiction and of fact there is no affinity.
They differ as much as the noble red
mem who scalps his way through the
pages of Fenimore Cooper differs from his
squalid, degenerate son in the native re-
serve. The Boer of fiction is a chivalrous.
though somewhat sleepy gentleman in
corduroy-a mountain of beef and bone,
given to solitary musing, and to the shoot
ing of buck, or red coats,"' whichever
happen to cross his path. Hunter and
hermit patriot and philosopher, is the
mixture out of which he is compounded.
The Boer of fact is a creature of ano her
clay. He is a duh, lumpish, lazy animal
with a capacity for ignorance superstit-
ion, and tyranny unsurpassed by any
white race His good qualites-for he has
redeeming Observation-Disclosures strong
ly to the ina gination. He clings with the
passionate ferVor of a Covenanter TO the
simple and sublime faith of the literal
teaching of the Bible. Love of independ
ence is .deeprooted in his nature. The his
tory of South Africa during two and
half centuries is full of examples of his
logged and unconquerable spirit. But he
has in oVerpoweriug degree the defects of
these qualities His piety is apt to de-
generate into superstition and sanctimonl-
Gus Pharisaism. Love of independence
has begot in him a hate of everything
that might tend to disturb his reverence
for the past and suspicion of the stranger
who threatens to tread him to death in
the solitude of the veldt. The uncon-
uuerahle spirit that has made him one Of
the boldest pioneers the world has seen
has become corrupted into obstinate con-
ceit.
The absolute seclusion and independence
If the pastoral life of the Boer farmer are
accountable for his ignorance His edu-
alton is limited to six months instruction
by a tutor who visits the farm on the
silent veldt as soon as the children of the
family are grown up. Few of them can
read and will tolerate nothing that would
dispel his ignorance or contradict his su-
perstitions. He is still convinced that the
sun moves round the earth, and that the
earth is a fiat and solid substance, resting
on unseen foundations. What is this
| nonsense in which you English believe
about the earth being round?' asked a
wealthy Boer who is member of the
| Volksraad. II was vain to offer Calico $
| explanation. Il have seen the shadow of
| the earth on the MOON" The familiar
proof of a ship on the horizon was treat
J ed with derision. DO you not always see
| the top of a thing first?" was the retort.
mo" said my friend, the Boer legislator;
| al can Eeleve none of this n W tangled
| nonsense Many a time re uining home
on the vedt have l thought over these
things. ! have watched for hours in the
| moonlight to see whether the kopje near
my homestead really did move but it is
| always there-always in the same place.
! And as for the sun, div not Joshua bid ii
! stand still?" Against arguments of this
| kind reason avails not yet | ventured to
ask how the sun managed to get under the
! foundatio of the earth every night so as
| to no in olqPp n % p1OrOfncr 4
| fculty had never presented itself, and the
only reply uttered with answering CON
viction, was: well, ! do not believe this
nonsense, and Dom Paul does not believe
| it,"
Should you suffer from malarial fever
| contracted in the marshy country, the
Dutch pastor who has heard nothing Of
the latest researches into mosquito virus,
| and is sublimely unconscious of his own
case win console you with the warning
| that it is a Divine punishment for hav-
| ing left the land of your birth. Persist
ence in the ways of his fathers is a strong
characteristic of the Boer. Except in the
Free State, where q few farmers have
| outraged public opinion and flown in the
| face of Providence by introducing machin-
cry. the method of cultivating the soil is
that of Syria and Palestine. Corn is sul
trodden, and the law is, Thou shalt not
muzze the OK when he treadeth out the
| corn" but the OK that presumes to think
himself worthy of his reward is beaten I'M
merclfully. Thus is the letter OF The Law
Of Moses observed. There is nothing he
| Boer is not capable of doing with a good
conscience. He will beat Kaffir to death.
yet will never believe that the native is
not his loyal and devoted friend At this
moment when every Kaffir In the llnd is
| eager TO murder his white oppressor. the
| Boer imagines that he has only to say
! the word, and Basuto, Swazi Matab. T..
| Zl11n and oil h1aRk c.t
upon and destroy his enemies This con-
fidence In his destiny and consciousness
of superiority over every created thing
would be sublime We're Il not ridiculous.
As n Family Man.
AS a family man, the Beers reputation
would jus fly him in becoming a ga a da Z
for the Dunmow Fitch Surly and suspi-
Nsious in manner heavy and uncouth In