The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-06-29
HERO OF
PRETORIA
characteristics of Lord
RoDefis.
HIS GRANITE .FEATURES
An Intimate Story of 1.-The Man Who
Has Destroyed the Boer
depubIieys

| nepuUllCSt
! LONDON, June iS.-Since Lord Roberts
assumed control of British destiny in
! South Africa there have been MANY al
| tempts to delineate, for the benefit of the
! public, his persona. characteristics and
! his doings at the front aAone has so
| pleased the British people as the bril-
| liant sketch of the Field Marshal which
julian Ralph contributes to The Daily
Mail. Mr.. Ralph writes as follows:
The hrst time the correspondents saw
MN was at 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 when had hampered and all
most crippled ,nem in their work m 10
| that time. they were TO write what the,
! pleased, he said, and this was not to be
censored. only lneir kilograms would be
| scrutinized. ihey Were to go whever he
went, wherever they willed to 20.
To me his lace suggests the front of
granite mountain, scanned. lined, batter
ed by storm, strain and racking change.
- records acquaintance with every trial
| TO which mortaIs are put. a.. suffered n
the solitude of undivided responsib,1 ~
j care, worry sickness Danger. unceasinp
reflection, all had left tnelr MATHS there.
| yet a.TF"erc written aCross "A geat.e sym
pa.hetic cCi@utenauCe, never say or Iner-
" yet seldom stern, and wholly ignor
ant OF pass-on. | have known MANY
fFaf % I
| lace apart. | fancy that in the minds
OF their worshippers, some of the sober
er gods of the old mythologies had faces
ike his.
He dresses in serge khaki, which. plain
as that always must be, he renders the
more plain by Riding it of all orders and
decorat- -ons. There are men on his star
there was even an American newspape.
| reporter with one OF the arm es-wno
wear a line and a half of ribbons But
the Chlef, who is entiJle,4 to perhaps four
Hhes, appears every day, for every duty
ana junction, wI,n tuuic as bare of
| decorations as that of any civilian He
| Is so neat ana precise in his dress that
| suspect he must nave been a dandy in
earlier life. lie is quick and nervous in
| ms movement, and his constant habit is
| 10 thrust either one or both hands under
MS belt-a practice which makes il easy
| Tor artists to fam.liarize his figure with
| the public. He is instantaneous and d.
rect in conversation, and goes as straight
| TO the point in view as a well aimed bull
| let to a target.
i nave noticed that when he meets new
people he advances toward them eagerly
listens intently, ana in three m nutes
either engages the new acquaintance in
earnest conversation or has done with
| him with decisive nod of parting. Wit
the army in South Africa his headquaI-
ters forms a court-almost as If he were
a part OF the royalty he represents You
90 not caiI upon MIN. You sign your
name in book, and he sends for you
later If he wants to see you. 1t may be
a Duke whom you find in the sale of the
Residency-as 1t was IN my case-and who
offers the reg ster for you 10 sign. The
Field Marshal works continuously, and to
do so has to be free from interruption;
! therefore, visitors meet him only at
luncheon or dinner. In Bloemfontein
where he was living between walls, his
table was a small one, standing a few
feet from the head of the large, long
table at which sat his staff-his ponder
Gus, impressive staff of distingu shed
men OF the aristOcracy. You dned with
rohs' in khaki. of course, at his small
table-if you were Mighty honored; or
you may dine with his staff ard be pre-
sented to him after the meal for a long
or brief interview, as he pleases. That
IS precisely the amount and extent of
state about his surroundings. But all
state vanshes wnen you touch the hand
Of the little man" and tax with him
about the two subjects which engross
him-the war arounu lin and pei tics at
! home. II you wonder that politics find
such spacious lcdgment as they do in h s
| mind. you have not remembered how pol
| itics affected MIN in his career as a Cen
eral, here in South Africa-when he could
have prevented this war by a vastly
smaller one, in I.andahar, in many fields.
Lord Roterts never smokes tobacco and
with drink he has little to do a ass
of wine with two o. the three meals suf-
fees for him. He breaches temperance
to his soldiers, and they all know that
he shows no patience with those who
! drink TO excess. He presides at meet
irgs of the Army Temperance Associa-
/ tion and extcls sobriety, hut like all
broad minded men. he refrains from ad-
vocating the impcss ble-one form of
which is total abstinence. He has never
been known to use an OATH ard. indeed.
there must be comparatively few men
whose religion influences them so deeply
as does his in every affair of life. re
never parades his piety, never forces t
upon these around him. Yet on every
Sunday stree he joined his army he has
attended divine service. Not a word has
he ever spoken to his staff suggesting OF
ordering their presence, yet he is certain
10 attend the weekly service-an examDle
TO the army so modes..y and so persist
eptlv presented that II cannot helm bug
Ne powerful. When he took the Sacra-
0ert at Dreifontein the other day. n
the face one might saw Of the whole
arU1v, II was without hint OF the paratI-
ir> ~ religion. All saw IN II an act OF
s'r''''- faith. " Is almost as hard %
reconcile his gentleness and sympathy