The suburban citizen., 1900-02-10
rHE wlEE OF DOM PAUL
Her Distrust OF Enslishmen, Her Pieil
and Her Domestic Virtues.


It is during the jameson raid. The
first lady of tue land is knitting stock
ings for her grandchildren. She is
sitting on the porch of the simple cot
| tage which constitutes the executive
mansion Of the South African Repub-
lie. In the "Zykamer" (parlor) the
president confers with his cabinet
"Tonte" aunt Krugers attention
seems to be entirely taken up by her
work She is counting the stitches
! Suddenly she raises her head and lis
tens. Somebody is speaking English.
1t is one of the guards who have
been placed around the cottage IN or
| der to protect Dom Paul from any
treacherous design on the part of the
! "Utlanders. Mrs. Kruger has an
/ inviucible aversion to the tongue OF
the British, although she speaks 1T
/ fairly well. She immediately puts
/ her knitting down and enters theroom
where the cabinet is in session. She
unceremonlously interrupts the pro-
ceediugs and informs "Neef' (cousin)
Joubert that one of the guards
was an "Engelsman" (Englishman).
Through the window she points out
the man in question. Piet Joubert
laughs and assures her that the guard
is loyal "Afrikander. Her hus-
band supports him, but his good wife
is not satisfied. She quotes the old
Dutch proverb that caution is the
mother of the china closet and in
sists that the guard be replaced by
man who'will speak de taal' (the Ian
guage) when on duty. The members
of the cabinet know from experience
there is no gainsaying "IOnte' Kru-
ger in matters which pertain to her
husbands safety, and under some
pretexto OF other General Joubert sends
the offending guard home. "The first
lady Of the land returns to the porch
and quietly resumes her knitting.
A truly remarkable woman is this
Sld lady, in whose veins flows the
blood of the Duplessis family, one Of
her ancestors having been the great
Due de Richelieu.
When the writer's informant, Mr..
H. Verschum, the well-known Dutch
traveller, visited President Kruger at
Pretoria, he found Mrs. Kruger en-
gagged in preparing dinner, the incar-
nation of a simple housekeeper, yet,
when an hour later the conversation
turned on matters political he was
surprised to find her remarkably well
informed her husband evidently hay
ing deep respect for her judgment
Mrs. Kruger reminded Mr.. Verschum
distinctly of the Princess Bismarck
whom he had met in Narzin years be-
fore, and who, though never openly
mixing in politics, seemed to him to
be very valuable counsellor to the
man of blood and iron.
Kindhearted as she is, there is a pc
culiar CLEAN in her eyes whenever the
subject of England is mentioned, and
her dishust of all that is British is so
deep that to the casual visitor it may
seem unjust. But when she begins to
tell of the dangers aud the misery of
the long "treks" to which her family
has been forced by British soldiers, it
is easily understood how deeply this
aversion is rooted in her heart as we'll
as in the breasts of all "AfrikRnders.
ut may be motel here that this is the
name which all Beers invariably give
to themselves, they never using the
word "Boer," except as a designation
for a farmer.
1t is a common thing in the Trans
vaal to hear mothers bring their chill
dren to obedience by telling them that
the "Engelsmau" will fetch them un
less they mind their parents.
When we take this hatred Of their
enemies into consideration, the kind
ness and humanity with which the
Boers-even according to English tes-
} timony--treat the British wounded
} and prisoners in the present war be-
comes a strong proof of the true
spirit among the people of the Boer
republics.
A very pretty example of this is
furnished when Mrs. Kruger aud her
husband every morning gather the
whole household in the parlor and q
chapter from the Scriptures is read
by either the president himself or his
= wife.
The first lines of Mrs. Kruger's fa
vorite hymn, translated from the
Dutch, read as follows:
Where Love doth dwell there the Lords
blessing remaneth,
There dwells the Lord, there man His bliss
obtaineth
IN life and in eternity"
Though always afraid of publicity,
Mrs. Kruger, in conjunction with her
most intimate friend, the wife of Gen.
Piet Joubert, put herself at the head
Of the temperance movement which
was inaugurated in the Transvaal only
a few years ago. Before that time
there had been little necessity for
temperance work in the two repu blics,
the Beers being very abstemious
people, but the great influx of foreign
adyenturers and miners, especially at
johannesburg, changed the situation,
and there was serious danger for the
younger generation Of Beers at least
, Mrs. Kruger and Mrs. Joubert have
, from the beginning worked earnestly
, / for the GOOD oausa and have guopeade ed