The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1900-01-04
SALTWATER, MINNESOTA THURSDAY JANUARY a. 1900


by order was not given in the spirit of
friendship, but that she might use that
fiendish order to keep our mouths shut
when the proper time came for her to
| carry on her war of lust in South
Africa, for no sane man can say that
she had not planned for this war in
| advance. The fact that the Beers have
given them several bad checks of late
only proves that the Beers knew her
game when she sent the ''stand by''
order to Chichester and prepared for
the worst, throwing England's calcu-
lations all askew for the time being.
! Our Uncle Samuel bought an ugly
old chunk of brass in that gold brick
'stand by order, and he don't like to
insult the old lady by telling cher" the
truth about it, otherwise old Uncle
Samuel would be down on Jonathan
Greed with two feet, blowing Monroe
Doctrine paper wads down his throat
But to the Beers. 1t was in the
year 1890 found me in Delagoa Bay.
Portugal, South Africa, deserter from
tramp steamer" I heard of the
gold liz the Transvaal and determined
to try my luck. But the Transvaal
was two or three miles away, and
when | found ont that I'd have to
trekh it, it kind of made me wish | was
back on the Tioga, bound for Lisbon;
but when heard that I'd have to go
through the Zulu country, 1 prayed.
Nevertheless joined out as cook
with lot of Scotchmen going to
Natal and had an easy berth as far as
| Rhodesia. After That L was by and for
| myself lone mover. Kimberley was
my objective point and 1 made it by
rail. All along found Dutch, Dutch:
wherever 1 went he was there. Being
of Dutch extraction myself, it was an
easy thing to ingratiate myself into
their favor, for they hate the English
worse than the Basutus, and with good
cause.
After remaining in Kimberley four
MONTHS. [ went to Johannesburg.
| Those of you who have ever been in
El PasO, Texas, have been in ] Johannes.
burg, save for the people they are
identical. Everywhere 1 went | was
we'll received and treated by the Dutch,
and if failed to give grace at meal
times, it was only accredited to my
ignorance. TO me they seemed to be
religious fanatics, for it was a con-
tinued prayer from sunrise to bedtime,
day in and day out, no one was ex-
cused. For instance, L never saw a
church on the "veldt," plains or farm.
ing regions. and yet of Sunday these
people would come to a given center
from all directions and hold religious
services in the open air near some
farmers "Kraal." Nothing like it in
this country. Moody could never draw
such crowds. Then their schools.
| see that the papers state that they
are ignorant to a degree. Do you
know why they are ignorant? I'll tell
you, it is because they are Dutch and
only teach their children the Dutch
tongue and educate them as Dutch
men and DutchwOmen, but try to
puzzle them in mathematics, geogra-
ply or reading and you will soon learn
that they are educated despite their
crude surroundings When | asked a
farmer where his children went to
school, he took me to woodshed with
two benches in it, pointed to stack of
books and giraffe's hide cato nine
tails on the wall, as much as to say the
school was the part of every home, and
the cato nine-tails was the stern
teacher.
It is also said that they are lazy and
have no ambition. Now 1 know if
had to do the work one of those
Dutchman and wife will do, in the
morning. I would die from overwork
in one year. Why it is simply amazing
what work they can do before sunrise,
and by 10 A. NJ. they are through for
the day and lay around till night, or go
on the "spoor" (hunt).
Another falat accusation placarded
] against them is, that they strip the