The Portland daily press., 1900-08-28
RICHARD HARDING DAVIS.
Tells what He Thinks Of tho Beers.
(Boston Advertiser. }


Marion, Aug. 5.-R. H. Davis, novelist
and war correspondent, and his wife are
back here at the cottage from which they
were married, after a wedding trip to
South Africa, one might almost say.
But he Is not tired or desirous Of leisure.
Not he.
81 am interested in three plays and
want to see them brought o1t before l
do anything eise,'' said he, when ques-
toned as to his plans.
''I would like to go to China. That Is
going to be something worth seeing. 1t
will be like six wars rolled into one. All
the great armies of the world will be
fighting alongside or one another at the
same time, and Will afford splendid OPP
portunity for observing the different
methods and just what each one can do. .
Mrs. Davis brought with her the tough
est looking English bull dog that ever
stepped upon American soil. His rorelegs
almost form complete circle, and he
has face that would give stone image
nightmare.
Mr.. Davis stopped only two days in
Paris. Or the exposition he says:
"It couldn't be worse. It's big peep
show, nothing more"
Mr.. Davis is not exactly bubbling over
with contempt for the English army ot1i-
Ger, but he is pretty close to it. The
English army officer is, according to him,
the worst possible kind OF a loser, and he
told some things as proof Of the Justice
of his opinions.
For the Beers he has nothing but
praise. Mr.. Davis declares the war In
South Africa is not over yet by any
means, and that the Beers have as good
a chance of winning as they ever had.
Mr.. Davis was Informed that his cr1t1-
cism Of the English officers had stirred
up much feeling in London and that 1t
was said there that he was afraid to pass
through the English capital on his way
home, fearing that he would be ohal-
| lenged on all sides by disgruntled officers
or used roughly by the English people.
'It is true, " he said, ''that / boarded
the steamer at Cherbourg, but 1t was
merely matter of convenience. After
reaching Europe from Africa I suffered
from sciatica and went to Aix-les- Ba1ns
for couple OF weeks. 1 did not purpose
ly avoid London.
GAS a matter of fact you know that
the Englishman is not the kind to fight
duels, and as for violence at the hands of
a London mob, that is all rot. 1t is alb
surb
ssAu have written or said about the
| English officer l stick to. But some OF
the best friends l have are Englishmen,
and L hope to continue them as my
| friends.
''The whole trouble Is that the English
soldier is bad loser. He couldn't un-
derstand how the Beers beat him In the
| fiYsct of no xr7ou all
of stories. They charged the Beers with
using poisoned bullets. One English
prisOnser at Pretoria had one of these
! bullets. 1t was covered with green stuff.
4 The Beers had smeaFed some kind of
grease on the bullets to make them work
easily. This grease and the brass she'll
had caused the green stuff to form, just
as a candle will in a brass candlestick
''Ihe English soldier who had the bull
let in Pretoria showed it to Consul Hay
Young Hay laughed, put the bullet In
his mouth and scraped off the green stuff
on his teeth. Bring me all of those you
can find he said to the indignant Eng
Hshman. i like to eat that stuff
81 left the English army because /
could not send out the truth. and then
went to Pretoria.
"It is difficult for an American, accus-
toned to saying what he thinks to apDre-
ciate the lack OF tolerance there Is among
Engllshmen ON the Boer question.
MY name was up for membership in
the Garrick Club, in London, and it was
Withdrawn under circumstances that
would strike an American as very funny.
"PinerO, the playwright, came to me
with white and startled face,
% My heavens, Davis he cried, this
is an awful charge against you. I've
spent the whole morning going around
denying it..
"'What have I been doing now2'
asked him.
" 'Pinero's voice dropped to a whisper.
They say, he said in aWestruck tones,
that you hoisted a Boer flag on your
house in America and saluted it.. I've
been telling every one I know that m
sure it is a lie.'
'' Well, l rpeIied, don't tell any one
else that it's a lie, for It's perfectly true
That's precisely what I did. My brother
and l put up a Iransvaal flag at my
house at Marion, Mass, and we danced
around it and fired off revolvers. 1t was
one of the best larks ever had.
''Wen," Mr.. Davis continued, "that
settled me with the Garrick Club, and
my name was withdrawn.
''NOw, do you suppose that If during
our war with spain some Englishman in
England had hOisted the Spanish colOrs
and saluted them and shouted lot, and
then came over to New York and had
been put up at one of our clubs, any one
would bother his head about what that
Englishman did during our war? They
won IN T15t nara xvbnax / 7niciud op