The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-06-11
LORD ROBERTS.
Graphic Portrait of Him from the
Pen of Julian Ralph.
From the London Daily Mail

Pen of Julian Ralph.
From the London Daily Mail.
The first time the correspondents saw
him was at a railway car window at
Modder River. He sent for them, and
addressed them as one who speaks to
friends 1t seemed to them that he
lifted every disability and brushed
away every limitation which had ham
pered and almost crippled them in their
work up to that time. They were to
write what they pleased, he said. and
this was not to be censored. Only their
kilograms would be scrutinzed. They
were to go wherever he went, wherever
they willed to go.
To me his face suggests the front Of
a granite mountain, scanned, lined, bat
tered by storm, strain and rackinG
change. 1t records acquaintance with
every trial to which mortals are put,
all suffered in the solitude of undi-
vided responsibility. Care, worry, sick
ness, danger, unceasing reflection, all
had left their marks there, yet all were
written across a gentle, sympathetic
countenance, never gay or merry, yet
seldom stern, and wholly ignorant OF
passion. l have known many great
faces. but that of Lord Roberts is n
face apart. fancy that, in the minds
Of their worshippers, some of the
soberer gods Of the old mythologies had
faces like his.
He dresses in serge khaki, which,
plain as that always must be, he rem
ders the more plain by Kidding 1t Of all
orders and decorations. There are men
n lie 70 A &
can newspaper reporter with one of the
armles-who wear a line and half of
ribbons But the chief who is entitled
to perhaps four lines, appears every
day, for every duty and function, with
tunic as bare of decorations as that
of any civilian. He is so neat and pre-
else in his dress that 1 suspect he
must have been a dandy in earlier life.
He is quick and nervous in his move.
ment, and his constant habit is to
| thrust either one or both hands undec
| his belt-a practice which makes IL
easy for artists to familiarize his figure
with the public He Is instantaneous
and direct in conversation, and goes as
! straight to the point in view as a well
| aimed bullet to a target
| / have noticed that when he meets
| new people he advances toward them
| eagerly, listens intently, and in three
| minutes either engages the new ac-
quaintance in earnest conversation or
! has done with him with a decisive nod
| of parting. With the army in South
| Africa his headquarters forms a court
almost as if he were a part of the
royalty he represents. You do not call
upon him. You sign your name in a
book. and he sends for you later If he
wants to see you. 1t may be duke
whom you find in the sale of the
Residency-as 1t was in my case-anl
who offers the register for you to sign
The field marshal works continuously
and to do so has to be free from in
terruption; therefore, visitors meet him
only at luncheon or dinner. In Bloem.
| fontein, where he was living between
walls his table was a small one, stand
ing a few feet from the head of the
large, long table at which sat his staf1
his ponderous, impressive staff OF
distinguished men of the aristocracy
You dined with "Bobs" in khaki, oi
course, at his small table-if you were
highly honored: or you may dine with
his staff, and be presented to him aftel
the meal for a long or a brief inter
view, as he pleases. That is precisely
the amount and extent OF state abou
his surroundings. But all state vas
ishes when you touch the hand of 9TH
little man" and talk with him abou
the two subjects which engross him
the war around him and politics a
home. If you wonder that politics finC
such spacious lodgment as they do II
| hig
how politics affected him in his caree
as a general, here in South Africa
when he could have prevented this wa
by a vastly smaller one, in Kandahar
in many fields. Lord Roberts neve
smokes tobacco, and with drink he ha
little to do. A glass of wine with tw,
of the three meals sufiices for him. II
breaches temperance to his soldiers
and they all know that he shows n
patience with those who drink t
excess. He presides at meetings o
the Army Temperance association an
, eXtols sobriety, but, like all broad
minded men, ne Tefrains from advo
, eating the impossble-one form O
which is total abstinence. He ha
; never been known to use an oath
J and, indeed, there must be compare
, lively few men whose religion inllu
, ences them so deeply as does his /
every affair in life. He never PAL
AIDES his piety, never forces ii upo
= those around him. Yet on every Sun
day since he Joined his army he ha
: attended divine service. Not a wor
, has he ever spoken to his stuff sug
Sesting or ordering their presence, ye
he is certain to attend the weekly sci
vice-an example to the army so mod
/ estly and so persistently presente
/, that 1t cannot help but be powerful
: When he took the Sacrament at Dire
: fontein the other day, in the fac
: one might say, of the whole arm.
!, II was without hint of the paradin
a Of religion. All saw in 1t an act I
. simple faith. 1t is almost as hard
!, reconcile his gentleness and sympi
. thy with the firm, sometimes sterl
. course which a general so supreme
a command, and at the head of so lars