The age-herald., 1900-02-18
THE WOMEN OF
 DOM PAUL'S LAND
BY ROY DEVEREUX

As far as one continent If from another as far as temperament, tradition, and edu- cation can divorce human beings. each from each-JuSt so wide is the gulf which divides
 the Boer woman from the womanhood Of modern England and America. Both indeed
 belong to the sex of its mother, and that eternal, inevitable fact constitutes the only
 similarity between them. Regarded from this standpoint, the present war is, one
 might say, the expression of the difference
 bstween the Eneqishman and the Boer but
 even that vast divergence is small com
 pared with the chasm which all the infi-
 ences of civilization have created between the women of these two nations.
 Each century, even each decade, has
 changed and moulded us We have grown
 with mans growth kept pace with his foot
 prints Not so With the Boer maiden, wife and mother. Time has passed over her head
 instead of taking her by the hand She still
 remains as she dn the beginning, as
 we were in the primitive age of the worlds
 history-the mere female in the lowest
 most elemental sense alone, the other half
 of man.
 I will begin alt the top with the first lady in the Transvaa1. She is the wife of President Kruger, populorly called 'Tante Sannaa." In America, I am told colored servants, who have been long in the family are called Aunt" but in the Transvaal
 Aunt is a title of respect, addressed to all elderly women, dndiscriminatey by the younger generation. I shall never forget the day when was introduced to "Tante San na," after my Interview with the president.
 Mrs. Kruger has no position corresponding
 to the almost deSpo,tic power which her husband enjoys.
 I asked to be presented to her. and she
 received me as if deeply sensible of and somewhat embara ssed by the honor of my request. Our conversation, carried on through the medium of an interpreter, was
 hmiTP1 In baf hnr fod1rfn r1ai1 dren. the price of butter and the climate of Pretoria. for ''Tante Sanna" has never read any book but the Bible, and could not sign her name to save her life Nor has nature given Mrs Kruger and personal charms to balance her lack of intellectual attributes.
 The fatal gift of beauty rarely, if ever, falls to the lot of the feminine Boer. Such thirgs as charm CT grace do not enter into her ambitions. She exists for use, not for
 ornament, in the family circle, and her
 value in the marriage market depends more
 on her capacity fer enduring all things in
 the shape of hard manual labor, added to
 the usual domestic burdens incidental to
 the life of the farm, than upon the possess
 sion of pretty face or any physical att
 fractions.
 ct the Boers are much gwen to marrying
 and giving in marriage. If man remains
 unwed after thirty he becomes almost an
 object of suspicion to hts fellows. I remem-
 ber judge of the high court in Pretoria Slflce klHeu III UUe recent dctlOn al EIlanQS Laagte-who told me that his dfsinclination to marry had initiated against his success in his profession. In the selection of a wife most young men defer to the suggestion of their parents.
 The elemerh of romance does not enter into consideration. for the Boers are prac- tical people in whom contact with gold mining has developed an inordinate affec- tion for the precious metal. The daughter of an official, who has enriched himself by despoiling the despised Uftlander, has lack of sultors, nor she who exhibits those qualities that would make an ideal general servant If the first is not available the second Is certain to be. To marry for love
 is to the Trlnsvasner simply a pernhaious
 habit, characteristic of the "Rooinek." which being Interpreted is the Engishman. Boer courtship is not, however without its formaiities Among the more ignorant section of the population curious custom is prevalent.
 After the choice of the young Lady and the terms of the contract have been ar
 ranged by their respective parents the young couple are left alone with lighted
 candle pla-ed on the table between them. Not word is uttered, for the fate of the
 suitor is decided by the life of the candle. If the lady exi.inguishes the flames he kn-ws that his suit is rejected, but if she | allows it to burn down into the socket 1t is 1 a sign that he has found favor fin her eyes. | Hfsfhory records that Bocr maidens occa- Slonaliy pnolong the ordeal by fire till the candle has half burned away and then leave | the desponident swain to find his hat in the i darkness and depart, proceeding which | goes to prove that the feminine instinct of coquetry may exist even under the urlovelyi | exterior of the Transvaal woman. Once welded the Boer woman accepts her | fate with much of the si.otcism character,s- | tic of tn eIndian squaw. She cooks end sews, though she does not clean for the Boers live and die in unmitigated dirt. Be- | yond her household duties she takes her | share of cattle on the farm, and in re1r.ng the crops In war, too, she bears also her part.
 | Tn her life culture and beauty have no place, nor would she know what Ito do with them if they ever were offered to her for | the wives of the small semi- -educltd official | class receive little more consideration from | their husbands than do those who are mated to the toughest peasants Her place in the scheme of the universe Is precisely what ours was whn our ancestors were l huntfng in the primeval forests. attired in