Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-03-01

nation is without the art of music or
painting, and as for literature the hest
books on the Transyaal or of its nao-
pie have been written by men and wo-
men Of another race. Their work
brings simple results. It's reward is
found in full granaries, barns in which
there are many cattle. and annie
clothing and food for all the popula-
| ton. The nation is practically with
out poor class. and boer tramps ara
unknown. There are sufficient tramps,
though, of other natonalities, advent
urers who have wasted their all. To
keep the boeT citizen acquainted with
the species. These being the actual
conditions in the Transvaal it is per-
haps not to be wondered at that new
words and terse expressions percolate
with extreme slowness through the
b0er mind and are elected more often
than accepted. The people cling to
phrases more than a century old, and
which have been repudiated by other
nations generations ago. The boer
essentially reveres and loves the past.
When the boer had possession of
Cape Colony and the southeastern sea-
coast Of south Africa he came in con-
tact with rowing Portuguese. careless
Frenchmen, adventurous Englishmen,
few Bohemians and Poles, and many
commercially inclined Germans. Some
Of them intermarried with his people.
From them he picked up chance words
and expressions which gradually be-
came part of his daily speech. But in
stead of leaving them in the pure state
in which they came to him he reason
ed that he could make improvements
So in some instances he would prefix
a heavy, monotonous syllable of his
own. In other cases he would make it
an affiX. And sometimes he split the
newfound word in the middle and put
his boer Improvement there. The re-
suit of such changes, made at hap
hazard and without thought as to
eventual results, has been the creation
OF that frightful conglomeration
known as the boer language. The re-
suit of the evolution suits him. but
there is no instance on record of it's
ever having agreed with any human
being Of another race. An added diff
fculty to a proper understanding of
the boer tongue is the fact that the
greater portion of the pronunciation
comes from the stomach and not from
the throat. Americans and English
men are accustomed to high-register
tones. We sometimes speak of the
heavy tones of the English. but they
are high register compared with those
with his speech the wink, nod, smile
and shrug of the shoulders These are
of the Italian and Span
ish language. The Norwegian and the
SWede are also facile Of speech, while
the German contents himself with an
occasional wave of the hand and
wrinkling about the eye. None of
these characteristics are found when
the boer delivers himself of thought |
AS aptly described by one familiar
with his ways, long thought with him
must precede the act of speaking. |
When he finally starts little wrinkles |
appear over the skin of his stomach, |
increasing in size as they approach the
line of the chest; the flesh laps in |
folds on the shoulder, the frame |
slightly quivers, the cords of the neck |
swell, the eyes recede, the muscles of !
the jaw slowly begin to work and |
finally there is hurled at the listener |
some sentences like this,
'Lieve moeder Wijzijn hier allen
onder de wapenen en- gereed ON tie |
vechten voor ons dierbaar land; VIII
weten, VIII heben wene werijke en-
zaak. Hi is nog dezlfde |
God die Giddon met Zijne 800 man de |
overwinning heeft gegeven. Hi is |
wen barmhartige God en- hi zal ONE |
zonden vergeven eneOns tar hulpe ko- |
men; hi zal nooit toelaten dat cen
matte cen zaak bolk ais vii
zal verpletteren.
1t is like the outburst of some mad
volcano which has been waiting for
twenty centuries to discharge its con-
tents.
The names which the beers still re-
Tain LOT themselves, ldlnlIy I4LItS, III
dictate how slow has been their yield
ing to the civilizing influence of
modern tongues. They have still
Mejuffrouwen, Ingezameld, Heyndery-
ckX, Windt-Fonds, Servranckx, Sy-
monens, Cneudt, Harelbeke, Remou-
chants. Bruxellois, Ysenbaert Bog
aerde. Coninck, Eackhaute. Sufficient
is given to make all hope that if Eng
!ish do not succeed in blowing
the boer himself into the ocean they