Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1900-02-04
lBE TRUTH ABOUT
The B0ER WOMEN.


Although the Dutch in South Africa
cannot be regarded as types of the
most advanced civilization, the Bocr
women is by no means the nonenity
that her sex usually is among unpro-
/, gressive people. She is not helpless
creature in a crisis like the present.
Her brothers have shown the British
that they are up to- date in warfare,
and in her own way she will demon
strate that the right to be called new
woman" is only a matter of oppor-
tunity.
When the Dutch fought the Kafirs,
it was repetition of the old experince
OF ''trekking" into savage lands. The
Kafirs took to the warpath and raid
ed the isolated farmsteads. With his
rife by his side the Boer tended his
tiockS, and when the enemy appeared
hurried inside the stockade which en-
circled his home and, with women to
load his weapons, kept up a steady fire
Y upOu Cuc UldCh IdlueTS.
The present war is popular upris-
ing and In the excitement of the hour
the Boer women has burst from her do
nestle restraint and not alone prepared
husband, son and lover for the field,
but has urged them to action. They
are brave, strong and determined in
the fight for their beloved indepen-
dence, their homes and their country.
They know every inch of ground and
have thousand advantages over the
enemy. They know, too, that when
there first supply of men is cut down
there will not be others to replace
them, as is the case with England,
and yet the women spur on their male
relatives.
The Boer women shoot like the pioneer
women of our own western country. AT
the outbreak of the war the large city hos
pitfalls of the Boer state were taken in
charge by the government When it was
found that the trained nurses were in fav-
or Of the British, they were ordered to
leave, and their places were filed by wom-
en- from the most cultivated families in the
Transyaal, who had prepared themselves
by course of training under military in
struction. Over at Colesberg the educated
Dutch girls were stewing rose leaves in
front of the Boer warriors horses and ex-
claiming: "Shoot the English! See that
you shoot 20 each,'
The wife OF General Joubert, comman-
der general of the Boer forces, has al
ways campaigned with her husband and
not only looked after his mess arrange
ments, even cooking his meals, but she is
said to have inspired some of his military
maneuvers. 1t is not generally known
that 1t was to her that the defeat of OF
the English at Majuba was largely due.
The general considered the position unas-
sailable. but Mrs. Joubert with all the
fire of her woman's patriotism, urged the
attack, eventually conquering the scruples
of her husband and the other command
ants.
In the present war, which the Beers look
upon as a struggle for freedom, just as
it was in 1884, the women assert themsel-
YES after the manner of the women of old
Sparta. They will listen to no suggestion
of surrender, or even of compromise. 1t
is warfare for their homes, therefore
and sincerely believe that they are in the
right and that God is with their people
The Boer woman has not struck for her
rights" for the simple reason that her
social influence is so sweeping that she
has no excuse for rivalry with the men of
her country. The Boer home centers
about the Boer woman. She is the queen
OF the domestic and social realm.
IJfa ON al iSo1ated, ranch ic raoaccariIu
matter of much routine and hard labor.
That is exactly what it is for the South
African women. Like their Dutch ances-
tors, they are continually scrubbing and
polishing, for, despite frequent libels to
tho contrary, they consider cleanliness
next to goodness and are willing to work
in unfolding this conviction. A clean and
orderly household is their pride The wife
and mother dominates the home life. But
the strongest characteristics of the Boer
women is their rigid idea of purity. The
fatal gift of beauty rarely, if ever, falls
10 the lot of the Boer Woman. Such things
as charm of manner or grace of carriage
have never entered into her aspirations.
, She has always been used to hard work
end upon her ability to attend to her house
hold and manage the farm depends largely
her prospects of marriage, for only the
well to do Boer keeps women servants.
Even then the housewife looks closely after
the work
Although the women of the upper classes
receive the benefits of culture BETTING
their station, they are not what advanced
reformers call types of ''the bower wom-
an" Their energies and lasts are natur-
ally severely domestic, and all classes are
digent readers of the Bible. Some per-
sons Of leisure cultivate the higher forms
Of literature. These are taking advantage
of the good schools and Grey college in
South Africa.
DIR CARIcATIIRE PORTRAIT