Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1900-01-25
A Heroine at Lydenberg.
AN EPISODE IN THE TRANsvAAL WAR o. 1885, 81.
BY w. wILMOTT DIXON.

one forgets many things III Is
years, and probably the story which ]
purpose reteling here is for gotten by
all except the surviving actors in it
and their immediate friends. But the
memory of such signal instance OF
British pluck should not be allowed
to die.
On Sunday, the 5th of December,
1880, the little town of Lydenberg, in
the Transvaal, was in state OF un-
wonted excitement. The whole popu-
lation was out in its Sunday best to
give hearty send off to the Ninety
fourth regiment, which had been
quartered there for many months and
was now ordered to Pretoria. Both
officers and men had made themselves
extremely popular with al classes,
and the expressions of regret at their
departure was universal. Numbers
of the inhabitants accompanied the
regiment on its way for five OF six
miles. One lady and gentleman
Lieutenant Walter Long, the junior
subaltern of the Nine y-fourth, and
his pretty young wife-rode ont as far
the lieutenant the high honor of leav-
ing him in sole command of the troops
left behind = a responsible position for
youngster of barely two-and- twenty.
AS the lieutena and shis wife
turned their horses heads and bade
farewell to their comrades, Colonel
Anstruther called ont:
''Good by, Mrs. Long! Look after
Long, and mind you're good little
adjutant. Good by, Long! Look
after my garden for me; remember l
expect to find it in as good order as l
leave it."
Both the colonel aud the lieutenant
were enthusiastic gardeners.
AS the regiment tramped past, Mrs.
Long cried OUT
Good by, Ninety-fourth! God
bless your
And the men shouted back:
Good by, our lady! God bless
you, Mrs. Long!'
1t was last farewell for many of
them, though they little thought it;
for fortnight later Colonel Anstruther
and more than half his men were
killed at Bronkhorst Spruit.
Out on the open veldt, about ha'f a
mile from the town, were eight mill
tary huts, each so feet long by Is fee t
wide, built two abreast, with an inter
vening 'plce of 80 fee, the whole
forming parallelogram IS yards in
length by 20 in b. eadth. At the first
rumor of disatfe elton among the Beers,
Lieu elGn, Long resolved to withdraw
his men into these huts, and throw up
some kind of shelter round them, for
up to this time they stood without the
slightest enclosure and utt erly unpro-
tected. The force under his COM
mand consisted of so privates and
three non commissioned officers of the
Ninety-fourth, seven privates and n
sergeant of the Royal Engineers, three
privates and a conductor of the Army
Service Corps-in all, inclu ling DR..
Falvey of the Army Medical depart
ment and Lieutenant Long himself,
64 officers and men.
Mrs. Long, who had been living
with her husband in pretty little
cottage embowered in roses and fruit
trees at the lower end of the town,
without moments hesitation de.
cided to leave her comfortable home
and take up her quarters with her
husband. Her many friends in Lyien-
berg tried in vain to dissuade her from
the step. She was offered warm
welcome in half dozen houses; but
the brave little woman said that her
place was beside her husband So til 3
soldiers brought her belongings from
the pretty cottage to one of the huts,
showed their admiration for her pluck
by taking the greatest pains in making
her quarters as tasteful and comfort
able as possible. There was, how
ever, but scant accommodation for a
lady in the hut assigned to her, which
sheltered under its roof three horses
Whose every movement was distinctly
audible) besides herself and her hus-
band.
On the 10th of December they be-
gan throwing up works of defence
round the huts, and Mrs. Long de-
lighted the men by working as hard as
any Of them. On the Odd of Decem-
ber the appalling news reached the IN
of the massacre of the Ninety fourth
Mt Bronkhorst Spruit. But, stunned
though they were by the terrible It'd
ings, they set to work more vigorously
than ever to complete their defs~ces.
When the tiny fplt was fin shed it WAS