Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1900-01-08
GOOD TOMMY ATKINS
LEADING CHARACTERISTICS OF
THE ENGLISH PRIVATE SOLDIER.
ALWAYS READY TO FIGHT
Confident of Ills ProWess and Patri-
otic to the Backbone-Unconven-
tional President Kruger and His
Even More Unconventional Wife
She Snubs English Callers.

The eyes of all the world are turned
| today toward men OF two distinctive
classes-the boer and the English SOL
der. Both have been SO much written
about that they are tolerably well UNI
derstood, Generals Cronge and JOubert
being fair specimens of the enemy
with whom the English have to deal.
Cronge is in command of division OF
| the TransvaaI army. He is the man
who defeated Jameson, and is very re-
ligious after the prescribed idea that
what is to be will be. During the bonn
bardment at KrugersdOrf he was seated
on the ground in an exposed position,
and when expostulated with replied:
"God has called me to this work; If it
| is His will | shall be shot; il not /
am safe here as anywhere, for it is
| impossible for me in that case to fall. :"
Yet, in spite of his religious proclivi-
ties, it is charged by his enemies that
he has been guilty of military trick
cry amounting to barbarism and has
no idea of nice points of honor Gen
eral Joubert, the man who is giving
the English most trouble just now, has
also been charged by the English press
with being tricky. Is so, it is after the
accepted principle that all is fair in
war. Honesty led him a year ago to
tender his resignation to the Volks-
raad, when the beers were actively en-
gagged in British Bechuanaland, de-
| IL IL
under a government which had DELHI
erately broken faith with England.
Mr.. and Mrs Kruger
The central figure of the Transvaal,
President Kruger, is not less amusing
than interesting. He lives in such an
unconventional, off-hand Dutch way.
A lady who was passing through Pre-
toria some months since was siezed
with most irresistible desire to see
the most-talked-abou man OF the day.
A friend who had the entree of the
Kruger household consented to intro
duce her Arriving at the bungalow,
the introducer said: wait here; l
will bring him out" She knocked at
the door, which was soon opened by a
grandson of the president. Mrs.
Kruger is not seeing anyone" he as
serted. "Nonse nse,' replied the knock
er, "she always sees me. | will go in
and find out what is wrong. After
few minutes she returned. Mrs.
Kruger is in a vile temper, she said,
| smiling. "She is busting the dining
room preparatory to a meeting OF the
executive council. Yes, she absolute
| ly refuses to seen English people, be-
cause some months ago she received
a party of English ladies and one or
them remarked in her presence:
What an old trump she isl An Eng
disappearing grandson kindly trans
lated the remark to his grandmother
in order to make her feel comfortable.
She looks awfully frumpy just at pres
ent, I must admit. The president is
having nap He always dimes at II
noon and sleeps for half an hour after
ward, so | am afraid we shall not sec
him.
AS they walked away the stranger
said: Il am so sorry to have missed
him." whereupon one of the two
guards stationed at the entrance to
the presidency, and who had evidently
overheard the remark, ran after her,
exclaiming: I'll fetch him for you! .
Then he ran back and entered the
sanctum sanctorum. Sure enough, out
he came with President Kruger, who
was batting his eyes like an owl and
smoking his pipe with most ill-tem-
pered puffs The guard handed him a
chair on the veranda and the stranger
was introduced, but she must have
| been lacking in entertaining qualities,
for the president, after nearly eXpec-
! torating on her new boots, said sim
ply, Good day." and shuff1ed off to his
meeting.
Not a Doubling Thomas.
When the old lady from America
was taken down to the London dock
she was told that the object of her Wis
it was to get good look at Tommy
Atkins as he started to the war After
watching a dozen hundred or more
of him and the way he carried himself
she exclaimed, "And everyone of 'em
named Thomas, and every mothers
son of 'em misnamed; there amt
nothin' doubtin' nor doubtful about
en- That is as good as a definition
of Tommy Atkins the world over as
nobody can give. Not even Kipling in
his most vivid description has done
better. There is nothing doubling or
doubtful about him; what he does he
does with vigor and confidence in his
own ability and that of his command
ing officers. Having accepted the
queens shilling he stands by his bar
gain on sea or land; in battle or on
parade ground. When he is off duty
he is staggering around the little ISL
and with a chip on each shoulder, or,
if he be in the cavalry, he is cutting
off imitation heads from pole with
one stroke of the sword, and spearing
+Io,oo with 1o1iob+ g tbnv roll on +ho