The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-07-11
A 1RANSvAAL Cinderella

republics of South Africa. Some Of
them are capital markswomen; and
nearly oil have the fanaticnl courage
which is noticeable in religious en-
thusius.s Of oil climes. The women
who today are fighting In the trenches
against the British are doing no new
thing. Their mothers and grandmoth-
ers assisted in the defense of many q
lager against the rush of Zulu impis.
Far from detracting from their wo-
manly fascinations, the young men Of
the Transvaal look upon such mascu-
line prowess as greatly enhancing
them. Rife skill and amazonian dash
in time Of war on the part Of the maids
compel the admiration OF the young
men, as witness the recent case Of
Marie Dutolt:
Marie was a little Cinderella of the
ycldt. Not all the glamour Of fairydom
could, however, have persuaded q
prince that little Marie was pretty.
She was, indeed, quite homely. The
child was an orphan and lived with the
Van Pelts. her uncle and aunt. and her
elder cousins, Hendrick, young man,
and Gretn and Anna, who may be said
to have taken the place Of Cinderella's g
i'll conditioned sisters. These latter
were bellies Of Boeriand and we'll por-
toned, but Marie had been left, skin
ny babe, without penny. This, with
her LONELINESS, lessened her chance Of
ever being nicely married, for the
shrewd Beer has g careful eye on a
girls dowry. An old maid or q bache-
lor is byword and thing Of abhor-
renee in the Transvaal. So Marie's lot
was sad.
Dom Kris Van Pelt was not bad
man by any means. He was typical
farmer and hunter Of the Transvaal, a
tall, broad, bearded, grave, religious
patriot. When >Marie's parents died,
he gave the child a home more from
duty than affection or pity and after
that paid little heed to her. Tante
Anne, his wife, was another matter.
She would never have turned away the
little Marie, partly from q senss that
such conduct would scarcely have been
Scriptu.al, but chiefly from a fear Of
what her leigbNoF5 would say. But
she did not conceal her opinion that the
Dutoits had sinned greatly In dying
without leaving provision for their
child.
In the hard years when tho mealie
crop was burned by the sun and the
oxen perlshed from lack of water
Tante Anne made things unpleasant
for little Marie, for she was feyerish.
complaining woman.
Another such year." she would cry.
"and we viii he ruined. The good
Lord knows best, but there are go
many mouths to feed, 90 many
mouths!" ~
Such outcrtes were absurd. for the
Van Pelts were better on than many
burghers. Her neighbors knew this
and smiled at tie worrying old woman.
but Marie took 1t very seriously ana
redoubled her labors. From babyhood
she worked until her hands were hard
as boys ana her face was darkIy
tanned. A hard childhood was that OF
Marie Dutoit, whose older cousins
were in nowise distressed to see how
she slaved. There is only ons career
open to the average Boer girl, and that
Is marriage. Marie was plain. Marie
was poor. Greta and Anna compla-
Gently and leisurely looked forward To
taking their choice OF suitors, but RIA
RE could only Sigh and be resigned and
secretly dream OF some impossible day
When the prince would ride over tile
veldt and sound his bugle horn. She
always reused herself sharply from
such extremely foolish dreams and
dashed more reluctantly than ever at
the drudgery OF the farm. i44s
1et one great delight was hers, and
that Was when Hendrick, her big, 81
lent cousin, took her out on, the broad
plain when he was shooting at the tar
gets and taught her to handle q rifle.
sometimes he even took her on a hunt,
and 80 keen were her eyes and so firm
ner grip and so steady her open air
trained nerves that Marie Dutoit when
IL years old was nigh as good shot
as Hendrick himself. When she was
H. the troubled days began, and the
aransvafl declared war against Great
Feldt Cornet Rausmann brought the
neNs, Su1 IL was not altogether news.
All night the beacon fires had been
burning on the higher kopa. All night
hafiir runners had been securing the
eountrs 49, Illrusuges from the com.
mandants to the burghers. An nighs
IN many farmhotises the women had
oeen at work preparing the rations of
Oltong and cleaning tho arms be the
patriots. ALI night throughout the