The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-08-07

curing sittings from these two redoubta-
bic warriors, though both of them were
very shy of the palette. They would rather
face d Boer any day French was eX-
| tremely nervous under the ordeal, and at
one or two points he even ran away and
hid himself behind a newspaper The
| shyest sitter l ever had" exclaimed he
| painter. but charming" The famous
cavalry General was highly amused at
the fancy pictures of him which reached
| him from London town. Sir Hector was
easier and talked freely. You cannot call
him a pro-Boer but they have no keener
| admirer of their fighting qualities. What
| struck Mr.. Menpes about this self-made
! General was his dislike of luxury When
| all the officers were enjoying the compar-
| alive luxury of Bloemfontein, ne stuck to
! his tent outside. He preferred to rough it
on the ground. He gave Mr. M@npes COOL
! ilustra ton of the enormous difficulties OF
! the intelligence deparm@n during the
war IN tell you what IL is said he, in
his soldierly way. Il trust nobody in
Observation-Disclosures ren-certainly not wo-
men. The children are the only safe draws.
What / do is to stuff my pockets full of
sweets, go out for walk, and talk to
The children. They tell you where Their
papas have gone" Then he went on to
compare fighting in South Africa with
lighting in the Soudan. In the Soudan II
was child's play-easy country-no enemy.
Here a fearful country and a brilliant
enemy. Now, how far co you think hat
kopje is off?"-pontlng to a hllock which
appeared quite close. but which was really
some miles off. Mr.. Menpes was aware of
the Deceptive nature of the country. and
said so. We'll" continued Sir Hector,
you would think IL was an easy thing
for me to take my brigade there, wouldn
you? And it looks fiat country between
us. doesn't it? Yet ten thousand Peers
could conceal themselves in that wavy
plain"
But war is too horrible exclaimed
Mr. Menpes. II shall never forget the
march TO Bloemfontein with Gen. Pole
Carew, rightly called the handsomezt man
in the amy. | shall never fOrgit his kind
ness TO me. The sight of The dying horses
and mu'es which we were compel ed to
leave behind will never be obIterated
from my memory. They would look Up at
you with their thetic eyes as much as
to say. "Oh. DO Kill me; don't leave me TO
the vulture=. They were wheeling round
and round then. but there wasn't even
time 10 cut their poor throats"
4. Banquet on the VcIdt.
Mr.. Menpes describes the difficulties of
locomotion with much humor, and now
that he is back again to the dinners of
his own cook. and those at the fashiona-
BILE restaurants of the capital. he looks
back with a melancholy pleasure at his
experiences. man who lunches on a
date, a banana, and a glass of water al
home, though, is really almost case-hard-
ened Nevertheless, a. biscuit and quar-
ter, a spoonful or two of bouiln a few
beastly meat lozenges, and timed com
pounds get weariscme. Sometimes, by way
of treat, he dined with some general
in a captured Boer wagon, with biscuit
tins for seats. and the floor for a table
Even then the menu was not de luxe-a
drop of soup, no bread, one biscuit, a
slice Of hard meat, a grain pudding and
a taste of whisky and water. Then there
was the going home in the dark. On one
of these festive occasions Mr. Menpes
had 10 cross the Modder after midnight,
his own cart being over the water. The
pontoon was soon on the way. but-bob,
bob. thud-a dead Beer in a frock coat
had banged into them. A few yards more
-thud, thud-more dead Beers What
dreams the belated reveller must have
had All" he exclaimed how well [
remember secreting two potatoes about
my person-and eating them by stealth
to prevent envy
When he was painting Mr.. Rhodes
they discussed art and gardening. Mr.
Menpes had visited his gardens at Cape
Town. and the first question Mr.. Rhodes
asked was how they looked. Mr. Menpes
congratulated him on the artistic way in
which he had grouped his flowers in
great clusters and amused him by con-
rasting this big way of gardening with
the back garden of poor London subur-
ba. II is not surprising to hear that a
man who thinks in continents should
complain that his wild beasts in his COM
pound az the Cape are skimped for room
10 roam in. They want acres" he cried
-"acres-and a marble platform to walk
on. You can't see EN- now" Then he
went on to describe the Siege Avenue
which is being put in hand 10 comment
crate The seige of Kimberley. II is TO be
a mile long; there will be room for four
in-hands to drive through IL; it will be
mainly an avenue of vines which will
form an arched vault of grateful shade,
on either side will be rows of pepper
trees, orange trees, and eucalyptus the
last on the outside 10 project its tenderer
comrades. In she center will rise a
beautiful monument of marble columns.
each holding a sphinx. The only ques-
ton which perturbed Mr.. Rhodes was
whether the clustered columns should be
rooted or open to the winds of heaven.
Time will settle II. But IL will be a big
thing. be sure, when Mr.. Rhodes has
done with it. He has fruit farm near
Cape Town. He ordered village to be
built for the Kaffrs. 1t was built and he
came to see it. He came he saw, he was
pleased. IT like it, he said. Build an
other" That was all.
Rhodes and Kipling.
Mr. Menres tells a good story of Rhodes
and Kiplng. Rhodes was showing Kip
ling a view from his estate when he
suddenly noticed three apple trees in the
way Without word he rushed to a cot
tage. 1t was shut The door was locked.
He burst it open. He seized an ak. He
cut off the heads of the offenders. He re-
turned 10 the great author: There!
Now you can see itr-i. e., the glorious
view. The great author said nothing. He
rushed down 10 the three, picked up an
old rag hung 1t on a bleeding stump.
He returned to the side of his host
What the-what's the meaning of that?"
said Mr. Rhodes. For perfect beauty
YOU must have a blot on the landscape.
| That's my blot" "Oh" growled Mr.
| Rhodes. "Ohw
| And there ended his first lesson.
| Mr.. Kiplings head is still on.
| Mr.. Kipling swears that the future of
| South Africa depends upon the camel
| Mr.. Rhodes will have Il that Il is a ques-
ton of grass. Camel - grass grass -
| camel-ding dong the famoue pair went
/ CO